Venezuela: American Freelance Journalist Detained by Maduro Regime Released, Deported

Nick Kangadis | March 7, 2019
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For all of the people who call President Donald Trump an enemy of the press, he’s never done what socialist Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has routinely done in imprisoning journalists.

A little over a week after Maduro and his thugs detained Univision’s Jorge Ramos and his crew for over two hours because Maduro “didn’t like the questions” Ramos was asking, another journalist was detained — this time for over 10 hours before being released.

American freelance reporter Cody Weddle had been living in Venezuela since 2014 reporting news on the ground for a number of media outlets.

According to one of the outlets Weddle regularly reported for, Local 10 News:

Early Wednesday morning, a group of black-clad agents with bulletproof vests and an order signed by a Venezuelan military judge raided his apartment and took him away in a Jeep.

Weddle said he was held for several hours alone with a ski mask covering his face. Weddle said guards searched his cellphone and computer and would sporadically question him about his work. He was not hurt, but he said he was without food and water during the interrogation.

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Kimberly Breier tweeted the State Department’s concern on Wednesday over Weddle’s detention and demanded his “immediate release”:

Weddle, who was detained along with his assistant Carlos Camacho, is reportedly being deported from Venezuela, much like Ramos and his crew were after they were detained in February. The cowardly Venezuelan officials who detained Weddle and Camacho still have yet to give a reason as to their detention.

“It was clear they didn't like my reporting," Weddle told Local 10 News. "They were interested in a story I did about the current atmosphere in the armed forces.”

Maduro and his ilk have no reason to detain these journalists other than they don’t want people reporting the truth about how socialism failed yet again.

“It appears I will not be coming back to Venezuela,” Weddle said, “but maybe I can tell the story from somewhere else.”

Weddle’s going to have to, at least while the Maduro dictatorial regime still maintains some level of power in Venezuela.

H/T: The Blaze

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