Reporters Without Borders concerned about attacks on the press

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a recent attack on a TV crew by anti-government supporters and called on the authorities to guarantee press freedom and punish those who prevented the media from doing its job. "The government must urgently put an end to such attacks, wherever they come from," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to interior and justice minister Diosdado Cabello. He also called on the leaders of a planned indefinite strike against the government to give clear instructions to their supporters not to target journalists working for pro-government media. Reporter Zaida Pereira and cameraman Eduardo Escalona, of the state-owned TV station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), were attacked in Caracas on 19 November by supporters of a group of soldiers who have declared themselves in "legitimate rebellion" against the government and have occupied the city's Francia de Altamira Square since 22 October calling for the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. As they arrived in the square to cover an opposition march, the VTV crew were stopped by a press spokesman for the soldiers, Arturo Vilar. Escalona was hit and his camera seized by a dozen supporters of the rebel soldiers. It was later returned but the film of the attack had been removed.