Venezuelan camera operator Gianni González has been imprisoned since April 2025, and faces charges of inciting hatred and publishing false news.
Venezuelan police arrested González, a part-time camera operator who works with his wife, Nakary Mena Ramos, a reporter for the private, Caracas-based digital news site Impacto Venezuela, on April 8. Mena was also detained. The arrests occurred shortly after Impacto Venezuela aired Mena’s report about rising crime in Caracas, a story that was criticized by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on his weekly TV program.
A criminal court on April 10 ordered González to remain in detention at a police station in El Hatillo section of Caracas on preliminary charges of “inciting hatred” and “publishing fake news,” according to the Venezuelan National Union of Press Workers.
The arrest and charges against González and Mena are part of an ongoing crackdown by the authoritarian government of President Nicolás Maduro on independent journalists in the wake of the disputed July 28, 2024, presidential election.
Génesis Carrero, a member of the National Union of Press Workers, told CPJ that at a preliminary hearing on June 16, a judge formally charged Mena with those crimes but that as of late August 2025, a trial date had not been set. Carrero was not able to provide updates on González’s case.
The father of a five-year-old son, González receives weekly prison visits from relatives.
CPJ’s calls in July 2025 to the Venezuelan Police and Attorney General’s office went unanswered.