Luis Carlos Díaz, who was charged with inciting violence and ordered not to leave the country, was released late on Tuesday

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

A prominent Venezuelan journalist who had been reporting on the country’s escalating political crisis and electricity blackout out has been seized by secret police, sparking international condemnation.

US pulls all staff from Venezuela as Maduro blames blackout on 'demonic' Trump plot Read more

Luis Carlos Díaz went missing at about 5.30pm on Monday after leaving the radio station where he worked in the capital, Caracas.

A social media hunt ensued with Twitter users demanding # DóndeEstáLuisCarlos or # WhereIsLuisCarlos.

Fellow journalists confirmed Díaz had been taken by members of Venezuela’s intelligence service, Sebin.

He was charged with inciting violence and released late on Tuesday. A judge ordered him not to leave the country and prohibited him from making public statements.

Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said agents raided Díaz’s home shortly before dawn, seizing computers and pen drives as the handcuffed journalist looked on.

Díaz was reportedly held in the notorious El Helicoide political prison.

Luz Mely Reyes, an internationally acclaimed Venezuelan journalist, told the Guardian her colleague’s detention was part of an escalating war on the press being waged by the country’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro is fighting for his political life after an audacious challenge from a young opposition leader called Juan Guaidó, who most western governments now recognize as Venezuela’s rightful interim president.

“I think one of the things [Maduro] is trying to achieve is to intimidate [journalists] and ensure the stories about what is going on in Venezuela are not told,” Reyes said. “Repression against the press has been growing.”

Last week, one day before much of Venezuela was paralyzed by a massive power cut, an American freelance journalist who had worked for the Daily Telegraph was deported after being seized at his home in Caracas.



A rightwing German journalist, Billy Six, has reportedly been held in El Helicoide since being detained on suspicion of espionage last year.

“It is just a joke,” his father, Edward Six, told the Guardian in a recent interview. “Journalism is not a crime.”

'We call it survival': Venezuelans improvise solutions as blackout continues Read more

Díaz’s detention – which authorities have yet to explain – triggered condemnation in and outside of Venezuela, with Guaidó denouncing Maduro’s “persecution” of journalists.

The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet tweeted that she was “deeply worried” by the detention of Díaz, adding that UN officials in Caracas had urgently requested access to him.

During a brief conversation in the early hours of Tuesday, Díaz reportedly told Naky Soto, his journalist wife, he had been detained near the Korean embassy in Caracas while riding his bicycle home. Agents said he was suspected of “IT offenses”.

Last Friday, Maduro’s second-in-command, Diosdado Cabello, published a conspiratorial video on Twitter insinuating Díaz was part of a “rancid” rightwing US-backed plot to destroy Venezuela’s electricity network.

Reyes said she feared Díaz’s detention would not be the last, as the political situation in Venezuela deteriorated. “This is not a game – this is a very serious situation that puts us on alert.”</s>Bachelet “concerned” about the arrest of Venezuelan journalist and activist Luis Carlos Díaz

Luis Carlos Diaz, a Venezuelan journalist who is an expert in networks and critical of the Nicolás Maduro regime, was arrested on Monday, without capture order, by the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) after leaving his radio program, denounced his wife and colleague Naky Soto. On Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, referred to the arrest and asked the authorities for “urgent access” for her technical mission in Venezuela to Díaz.

I am deeply concerned about the alleged detention of the reputed journalist by the Venezuelan intelligence services, and for his well-being, the High Commissioner said on Twitter.

Since Monday, the technical work mission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) prior to Bachelet's visit has been in Venezuela. The work team will meet with government leaders, representatives of the National Assembly, with civil society organizations and with victims of human rights violations, the international organization told in a press release.

Diaz, who is accused by the Maduro’s regime of committing computer crimes by participating in alleged sabotage to the Venezuelan electricity grid that has left most of the country in shadows since last week, is being held at El Helicoide, intelligence headquarters.

On Monday, Diosdado Cabello, Chavismo strong man and president of the pro-government National Constituent Assembly, showed a video on his television program Con el Mazo Dando where the prominent journalist appears explaining what a blackout is, accusing him of having explained the plan that an opposition sector used to generate the “sabotage” that was recorded on Thursday.

Díaz was missing for several hours. Neither his wife nor his colleagues knew anything about him until the SEBIN showed up with him handcuffed in his house, to conduct a raid in which they seized and removed computers, pen drives, cell phones, money, and a hard drive, his wife reported.</s>PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - Human rights activists in Venezuela are demanding the release of independent journalist Luis Carlos Diaz.

Naky Soto, his wife, said Venezuelan intelligence agents brought her handcuffed husband home after detaining him while he was riding his bicycle on Monday, raided their home on Tuesday and took him away again.

"Big and scary escalation of Maduro's war on the press, as he looks for blackout scapegoats," New York Times reporter Anatoly Kumanaev wrote on Twitter. "Luis Carlos is one of the sharpest media observers in the country. Detained by secret police for his coverage of the blackout. No officials, of course, fired or even rebuked for the crisis."

Venezuela's National Union of Press Workers reported the agents with the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, or SEBIN, working with military counterintelligence agents, or DGCIM, took him about 5:30 p.m., Monday, and when they returned with him to his home they confiscated computers, a pen drive, cell phones and cash.

Soto said Diaz reported he was hurt during his detention. During the 2:30 a.m. raid, the union reported agents also held several people at gunpoint and identified them as Marco Ruiz, a spokesman for the union, journalists Lila Vanorio and Luz Mely Reyes and Federico Black, a communications consultant.

"Venezuelan authorities should immediately release Luis Carlos Díaz, return his confiscated equipment, and stop this absurd campaign blaming their own failures on critical journalists," said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick. "Without electricity, much of the Venezuelan public is already deprived of access to information from TV, radio, and the internet in the midst of an emergency. Harassing and jailing journalists will only exacerbate the crisis."

Spain's Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press it is trying to find out from Venezuelan authorities why Diaz, a journalist with dual Spanish and Venezuelan nationality has been detained.

Soto and other supporters of freedom of speech in Venezuela organized an 11 a.m. meeting outside of the prosecutor's office in Caracas to demand his release. She asked the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights to intervene.

According to the Instituto Presan y Sociedad, or IPYS, a nongovernmental organization monitoring freedom of expression in Venezuela, 40 journalist have been the victims of arbitrary detentions in Venezuela this year alone.

With journalists from around the world, including Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, the hashtag Liberen A Luis Carlos, or Free Luis Carlos, was trending on social media Tuesday morning. The independent journalist broadcasts live on Union Radio Noticias and, according to El Pais, he is a dual citizen of Spain and Venezuela.</s>A prominent Venezuelan journalist who had been reporting on the country’s escalating political crisis and electricity blackout out has been seized by secret police, sparking international condemnation.

Luis Carlos Díaz went missing at about 5.30pm on Monday after leaving the radio station where he worked in the capital, Caracas.

Early on Tuesday, fellow journalists confirmed Díaz had been taken by members of Venezuela’s feared intelligence service, Sebin.

Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said agents raided Díaz’s home shortly before dawn, seizing computers and pen drives as the handcuffed journalist looked on.

Díaz is reportedly now being held in the notorious El Helicoide political prison.

Luz Mely Reyes, an internationally acclaimed Venezuelan journalist, told the Guardian her colleague’s detention was part of an escalating war on the press being waged by the country’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro is fighting for his political life after an audacious challenge from a young opposition leader called Juan Guaidó, who most western governments now recognize as Venezuela’s rightful interim president.

“I think one of the things [Maduro] is trying to achieve is to intimidate [journalists] and ensure the stories about what is going on in Venezuela are not told,” Reyes said.

“Repression against the press has been growing.”

Last week, one day before much of Venezuela was paralyzed by a massive power cut, an American freelance journalist who had worked for the Daily Telegraph was deported after being seized at his home in Caracas. 



A rightwing German journalist, Billy Six, has reportedly been held in El Helicoide since being detained on suspicion of espionage last year.

“It is just a joke,” his father, Edward Six, told the Guardian in a recent interview. “Journalism is not a crime.”

Díaz’s detention – which authorities have yet to explain – triggered condemnation in and outside of Venezuela, with Guaidó denouncing Maduro’s “persecution” of journalists.

During a brief conversation in the early hours of Tuesday, Díaz reportedly told Naky Soto, his journalist wife, he had been detained near the Korean embassy in Caracas while riding his bicycle home. Agents said he was suspected of “IT offenses”.

Last Friday, Maduro’s second-in-command, Diosdado Cabello, published a conspiratorial video on Twitter insinuating Díaz was part of a “rancid” rightwing US-backed plot to destroy Venezuela’s electricity network.

Reyes said she feared Díaz’s detention would not be the last, as the political situation in Venezuela deteriorated. “This is not a game – this is a very serious situation that puts us on alert.”
Prominent Venezuelan journalist Luis Carlos Díaz [es] is released after being taken by SEBIN, the national intelligence service, on Monday; he has been ordered not to speak of his time in detention or publish anything.