Caracas police detain local journalist in home raid, union says

Venezuelan journalist Carmela Longo walks towards a police vehicle as she gets detained by police who raided her house, according to a journalists union and a local rights organisation, in Caracas, Venezuela, August 25, 2024 in this screengrab taken from a social media video. Jesus Medina Ezaine/

CARACAS - A well-known Venezuelan journalist was detained in Caracas on Sunday by police who raided her home, according to a journalists union and a local rights organization.

The National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela (SNTP) and rights organization Espacio Publico said on their X accounts that agents with a search warrant went to the apartment of journalist Carmela Longo and took her into custody.

Days earlier, Longo had announced on her Instagram account that she had left her job at the pro-government newspaper Ultimas Noticias after 20 years.

"National police officers took the journalist [Carmela Longo] and her son... in addition to some computer equipment," the press workers union said in a post on X that included a video showing the reporter getting into a police van with agents dressed in black before the van and another car behind it drive away.

According to the press union, at least eight other reporters have been detained following the disputed July 28 presidential election.

The Ministry of Information and the Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There are currently 1,674 political prisoners in the country, the greatest number so far this century, legal rights NGO Foro Penal said on social media on Friday. The tally does not include those who have been released or people held for 48 hours or less.