Spain demands immediate release of journalists held in Venezuela

The Spanish government on Thursday demanded the immediate release of journalists working for the Spanish news agency EFE who were arrested in Venezuela. Madrid “strongly condemns” the detention in Caracas of four members of a team from Spanish news agency EFE by Venezuela’s state intelligence agency Sebin, the Foreign Ministry said. Spain demands that “the competent authorities release them immediately,” it said, adding that Madrid “again asks the Venezuelan authorities to respect the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The three EFE journalists – a Spanish reporter, a Colombian videographer and a Colombian photographer – were arrested along with their Venezuelan driver on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Two French journalists from the TV channel TMC were detained on Tuesday as they filmed the presidential palace in Caracas and have not been heard from since, Venezuela’s main journalists’ union, the SNTP, said. Two Chilean journalists who were also arrested on Tuesday near the presidential palace “were kicked out of Venezuela” on Wednesday, it added.