Mauro Marcano

Official intolerance of criticism and unfounded government accusations promoted a climate of fear among Venezuelan journalists. Tensions reached new heights in September when, without providing evidence, President Hugo Chávez Frías and high-ranking administration officials accused private media outlets of plotting to overthrow the government and murder the president. With violent crime rates escalating, the murder of a newspaper executive and the shooting of a critical columnist raised concern about journalists’ safety.

 Updated:  March 29, 2007
Original Case: September 17, 2004
Mauro Marcano, Radio Maturín, El Oriental
KILLED

On March 5, Venezuelan authorities arrested Ceferino García, believed to be the mastermind behind Marcano’s death, and accused him of premeditated murder, reported the local press. García is being held in Pica prison in the northern Monagas province.

President Hugo Chávez Frías, who has outlasted a coup and a recall, swept
to victory in the December 3 presidential election amid tense relations with the press. Chávez threatened to withhold licenses from broadcast outlets critical of his administration, while the attorney general quashed coverage of a prosecutor’s assassination amid press reports that exposed weaknesses in the government’s probe. Journalists faced physical dangers as well, with one murdered in 2006.

VENEZUELA

CPJ traced a decline in physical attacks against journalists in 2005,
as five years of violent political upheaval finally subsided. President Hugo Chávez Frías further consolidated his control following a tumultuous recall vote the previous year that saw journalists assaulted and harassed by government supporters, opposition activists, and security forces. In 2005, the frequency of physical assaults declined by half, and the severity of the assaults diminished as well, CPJ data show. But one type of threat was replaced by another, as the Chávez administration moved toward institutionalized repression and new legal restraints against the press.

Venezuela

Several worrying legal developments in Venezuela curtailed press freedom in 2004. In particular, a new broadcast media law could be used to restrict news coverage critical of the government.

Conflict between President Hugo Chávez Frías and the private media continued in 2004. Soon after Chávez was elected in 1998 on promises of a "democratic revolution" and radical reform, the press aligned itself with the opposition, whose vision for the future of Venezuela severely conflicted with Chávez's. Because many opposition parties were disorganized or discredited, the media helped fill the void and became one of the most powerful sources of government opposition. Chávez has often blasted the private press and accused media owners of being "coup-plotters," "fascists," and "terrorists." He has also threatened to shut down private TV channels' broadcasts, and his government has used state-owned media as a counterweight to private media. Private media, meanwhile, have often openly promoted the agenda of opposition parties.

Dear Sir:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to request an immediate and thorough investigation into the murder of Venezuelan journalist Mauro Marcano, who was killed by unidentified attackers while he was leaving his home on September 1 in the city of Maturín, the capital of eastern Monagas State.

Marcano, a radio host and columnist, was shot dead at around 7 a.m. in his apartment building's parking lot, according to local news reports. Next to his body, police found his handgun, which he had apparently reached for to defend himself, your office has stated.