La Patilla Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

Former vice-president Diosdado Cabello, pictured during a National Constituent Assembly session in January. Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered La Patilla to pay Cabello US$5 million in damages. (AFP/Federico Parra)

Venezuela’s Supreme Court orders La Patilla to pay US$5m in damages to Cabello

June 7, 2019 10:27 AM EDT

Bogotá, Colombia, June 7, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by the Venezuelan Supreme Court, which according to news reports ordered the independent news site La Patilla to pay US$5 million damages to a former vice-president as part of a civil defamation lawsuit.

The near deserted newsroom of Caracas daily El Nacional, pictured in October. Like many Venezuelan outlets, several of its journalists are in exile to escape legal action and the deepening economic crisis. (AFP/Federico Parra)

Lawsuits and economic crisis drive Venezuela’s journalists into exile

December 18, 2018 12:08 PM EST

When Ewald Scharfenberg, the founding editor of the Venezuelan investigative news website Armando.Info, holds editorial meetings, he pulls out his mobile phone. That’s because most of his reporters are in Venezuela while Scharfenberg lives and works in neighboring Colombia.

A screen shot shows Venezuelan lawmaker Diosdado Cabello on his program on state broadcaster VTV.

Venezuelan court fines news website $500,000 for ‘moral damage’ to politician

June 2, 2017 5:01 PM EDT

Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, 2017–A Venezuelan court’s ruling ordering a news website to pay the equivalent of nearly half a million U.S. dollars in damages for republishing an article about a politician threatens press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

A Reuters photojournalist runs as Venezuelan National Guard soldiers charge during a protest outside the Supreme Court in Caracas on March 31. Several journalists have been injured covering the unrest. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)

Journalists covering Venezuela protests harassed, attacked, and news websites blocked

April 12, 2017 10:36 AM EDT

New York, April 12, 2017–Venezuelan authorities should ensure that journalists can cover protests safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Several reporters have been detained, injured, or had equipment seized while covering ongoing protests over a Supreme Court ruling to strip the opposition-led National Assembly of its lawmaking powers, according to news reports and…

After leaving Globovisión, Alberto Ravell, pictured in 2010, set up critical online news site La Patilla. (AFP/Miguel Gutierrez)

In Venezuela, online news helps journalists get their voices back

June 1, 2015 11:32 AM EDT

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was rumored to be gravely ill four years ago, his socialist government was tightlipped about the diagnosis. Then in June 2011 a source in Havana, Cuba, where Chávez was being treated, told Nelson Bocaranda, a veteran columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal, that the president had cancer.

Diosdado Cabello, president of Venezuela's National Assembly, at a rally in Caracas in February. A judge has imposed a travel ban on 22 news executives named in a defamation lawsuit Cabello is filing. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

Venezuelan court bars media executives from leaving country

May 15, 2015 5:22 PM EDT

Bogotá, May 15, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by a Venezuelan judge that prohibits 22 news executives from three independent media outlets from leaving the country due to a defamation lawsuit filed by one of Venezuela’s most powerful politicians. According to news reports, the lawsuit and travel ban came after three outlets…