For the first time ever, Reporters Without Borders is publishing a list of profiles of “100 information heroes” for World Press Freedom Day (3 May).Through their courageous work or activism, these “100 heroes” help to promote the freedom enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom to “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” They put their ideals in the service of...

Venezuelan security forces have used unlawful force in response to antigovernment demonstrations, severely beating unarmed protesters and shooting them at point blank range, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Security forces also subjected detainees to severe physical and psychological abuse, including in some cases torture, and justice officials failed to safeguard detainees’ due process rights. The 103-page report, “,” documents 45 cases from Caracas and...

Protests in Venezuela have led to concerns in Latin American and the Caribbean, according to a report issued on Monday. Most presidents of the region are concern about the situation of the country, which generates uneasiness among opposition parties, mass media, firms, and citizens, the International Prospective Institute (IPI) states in the report, EFE quoted. Venezuela has been facing anti-government protests since February, resulting in more than 40 people dead and hundreds injured. ...

Nairobi Pinto was seized by two masked gunmen at her home in the capital Caracas, her father Luis said. He asked the kidnappers to "see sense" and release his daughter. Kidnappings, especially for ransom, are not uncommon in Venezuela, and a number of diplomats, as well as businessmen and athletes, have been abducted over the past years. While the majority of those kidnapped for ransom are released hours or days after they were taken, some kidnap victims have been killed or died...

In a letter to the editor of the New York Times, the executive secretary of opposition umbrella group Unified Democratic Panel (MUD), José Guillermo Aveledo, expressed his disagreement with the statements issued by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an op-ed article published by the newspaper earlier this week entitled "Venezuela: A call for peace." Aveledo rejected Maduro's claims that the crisis facing Venezuela has been fabricated by the opposition and is the...

On Thursday, a students' march from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) intended to arrive to the Economic Vice presidency office in La Campiña, Caracas, to protest against shortage and economic crisis. State security forces prevented demonstrators from getting out of the university campus. In addition, armed gangs attacked the university and the students.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has reaffirmed that nobody, included individuals or countries, is entitled to overthrown a legitimate elected president through violence. Bachelet's comment came with respect to a wave of protests staged in Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro in recent weeks. Amidst reports of torture and violation of dissenters' human rights, Bachelet told Reuters, "We hope at all times for the respect of human rights and the Constitution, and hope that...

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro Thursday to “end this terror campaign” against his own people. In one of his strongest statements yet after more than a month of student and opposition protests against Maduro's government, Kerry said the international community needed to “focus on Venezuela appropriately.” “We are engaged now with trying to find a way to get the Maduro government to engage with their citizens, to...

The Organization of American States (OAS) and its member countries should proceed with a meeting on the situation in , Human Rights Watch said today. The OAS should use the meeting to address the human rights violations committed in response to widespread public demonstrations since February 12, 2014. The OAS should not allow such an important opportunity to engage on human rights issues at the heart of the situation in Venezuela to be derailed. On February 25, the government of Panama asked...

It was a well-publicised event: Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez had previously announced he was prepared to risk and march through the streets of Caracas. On Tuesday he voluntarily handed himself over to police but not before urging tens of thousands of anti-government protesters to remain firm. “Don’t leave the streets…we must take up our right to but we must do it peacefully. Brother, I ask you and every Venezuelan who wants change…we must inform ourselves,...