Venezuelan journalist Nakary Mena Ramos has been imprisoned since April 2025, and faces charges of inciting hatred and publishing false news.
Venezuelan police arrested Mena, a reporter for the private, Caracas-based digital news site Impacto Venezuela, on April 8. Her husband, Gianni González, who was working as her camera operator, was also taken into custody. 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 Mena to remain in detention at a police station in the 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 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 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 a trial date had not been set.
The mother of a five-year-old son, Mena receives weekly prison visits from her mother and aunt.
CPJ calls in July 2025 to the Venezuelan Police and Attorney General’s office went unanswered.