Caracas – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, seeking reelection amid claims of opposition suppression, on Monday lashed out at international media, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), accusing them of being “hitmen of lies.”
“They’ve tried to make us invisible a thousand times, now the operation is run by hitmen, the hitmen of lies, the EFE agency in Spain, the AFP agency, the AP agency, CNN and several television stations here,” he said at a rally in San Cristobal in the western Tachira state.
Just days ahead of the July 28 presidential vote, Maduro claimed the media censor and “manipulate” information about his campaign, to which access has been limited.
“They are already shouting fraud,” he said.
“Nobody is going to stain the political process. If they run the red light, they will regret it for 200 years and it will be the last mistake they make… it will be their last political error, there will be justice against the fascists!”
Last week, the president also railed against news organizations he called “trash.”
Maduro, 61, on Sunday faces off against opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who stands in the place of wildly popular Maria Corina Machado — disqualified from the race by institutions loyal to the president.
Most polls, which Maduro rejects as fake, put Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, far ahead.
Last week, Venezuelan rights group Foro Penal reported 102 arrests this year of people linked to the opposition campaign, adding to more than 270 “political prisoners” in the country.
The government frequently claims plots against the president and attempts to overthrow the government.
The Venezuelan Foreign Press Association (APEX) has called for its members not to be dragged into “political debate or unfounded accusations.”
Venezuela ranks 156th out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) global press freedom index.
According to the CNP national journalists’ union, more than 400 media outlets have closed their doors in Venezuela in the last 20 years.
The government had taken the RCTV channel off the air and ordered cable operators to withdraw the signal of CNN en Espanol, Deutsche Welle and the Colombian channels NTN24 and RCN. AFP
