The Board of WAN-IFRA notes with deep concern that severe shortages of newsprint continue to force independent newspapers out of circulation. The latest of these, El Carabobeño, printed its final edition on 17th March. The Venezuelan government has controlled the importation of newsprint since 2013 and refuses to sell either the paper, or the currency needed to buy it, to independent publications. The Board of WAN-IFRA calls for an end to the government’s discriminatory monopoly over the raw materials – which are an essential function of a free press - and for all restrictions on the supply and distribution of newsprint to be immediately lifted.

The Board of WAN-IFRA also calls on Venezuelan officials to stop using the law to intimidate the media, and denounces the increasing legal harassment of journalists and the use of criminal defamation charges to silence the press. The Board remains concerned over the case of Miguel Henrique Otero, a WAN-IFRA Board member and Publisher of daily El Nacional, who is in exile in Madrid after the Venezuelan National Assembly President, Diosdado Cabello, filed a criminal defamation suit against him and 21 other journalists. Equally, the Board is alarmed by the sentencing to four years in prison of David Natera Febres, president and editor of Correo del Caron, following the newspaper’s investigations into corruption at a state mining company.

The Board reminds the Venezuelan government that criminal defamation and insult laws are incompatible with freedom of expression and severely undermine the democratic rights of the media and concerned citizens to hold those in power to account. The Board calls for the repeal of criminal defamation, reminding the government that elected officials should  - as a matter of course - be subjected to higher degrees of public scrutiny. In-line with international standards, the Board reiterates that, where defamation can be proved, recourse should only be sought via civil penalties and proportionate fines.

The Board of WAN-IFRA also calls on the Venezuelan security forces to do more to ensure the safety and protection of journalists during public protests. The Board notes the growing polarisation between pro-government and opposition supporters, and is concerned by reports of journalists having been deliberately targeted during recent clashes. The Board is equally concerned by reports suggesting armed civilians are conducting such attacks with the complicity of the security forces, who are failing to provide adequate protection to media professionals.