Piece for Columbia Journalism Review
Beaten, knocked down, dragged: A Venezuelan journalist flees country but not the story.
Published: August, 2017
VETERAN VENEZUELAN REPORTER ELYANGÉLICA GONZÁLEZ’S 20-YEAR CAREER in journalism came to an inflection point in late March, when covering her country’s ongoing crisis unexpectedly turned her into the story. González, a reporter for Univision and Colombia’s Caracol Radio, was covering a protest in Caracas where thousands of students had gathered in front of the Supreme Court, calling on the government to respect the constitution. The National Guard began pushing the students away, and a group of pro-government civilians, known as colectivos armados, started attacking the students.
At that point, González received a call from her radio station asking her to go live on her cell phone to cover the attacks on the students. A female National Guard officer overheard González reporting and started screaming at her to leave.
What happened next was captured on a video that quickly went viral across Latin America. The footage not only showed a fearful González being surrounded and manhandled by the Venezuelan military simply for trying to do her job, it revealed the dangerous escalation of violence against Venezuelan press covering weekly (sometimes daily) mass protests that have left more than 100 people dead in a country teetering on the brink. The situation has gotten so dire that the Committee to Protect Journalists published a special report for Venezuela with a comprehensive list of specific threats and precautions for media covering the disintegrating state.
The recent rise in attacks on local and foreign press is an ominous sign. According to the National Press Workers Union, in the first four months of this year, there were more than 200 attacks on journalists in Venezuela. And that doesn’t even include the four journalists recently detained and arrested, and several other journalists who were attacked during the controversial installment of the National Constituent Assembly on July 30.
“I explained that I had press credentials, and that I was on air, but another officer came and ripped the phone from my hands,” González recalls. “The female officer grabbed me by my hair, knocked me to the ground, and began kicking me repeatedly.”
FULL ARTICLE HERE