Miguel Henrique Otero Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

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 man reads a newspaper referring to the victory of re-elected President Nicolas Maduro in the Venezuelan presidential election in Caracas, on May 21, 2018. The Venezuelan national telecommunications regulator on May 22 opened an investigation into content published on the website of El Nacional, the country's biggest independent daily newspaper. (Luis Robayo/AFP)

Venezuela opens investigation into independent newspaper

May 24, 2018 5:37 PM EDT

New York, May 24, 2018–The Venezuelan government should halt its investigation of a leading independent newspaper’s website and allow it to publish freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Editor Miguel Henrique Otero, pictured in El Nacional's Caracas office in 2010, has been managing the paper from exile after being accused of defamation. (AP/Fernando Llano)

Last critic standing: How El Nacional defies challenges to keep publishing

February 22, 2016 11:12 AM EST

Patricia Spadaro, news editor at the Caracas daily El Nacional, faces daunting challenges in putting out the newspaper. Her boss, El Nacional’s president and editor Miguel Henrique Otero, has been living in exile since May 2015 after a top government official accused him of defamation. Amid the country’s deep economic crisis, half of Spadaro’s reporters…

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…