Jorge Ramos, Mexican-born anchorman from Univisión, and a team of 5 journalists that were sent to help Ramos in his interview with the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, were detained at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on Monday, February 25th. They were released almost 3 hours after and went to their hotel. They were being held against their will by the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and it was regarded as an attack to freedom of press. After the team was released, Univision programmed a special report and Ramos joined by phone.
Ramos said, “Maduro got up from the interview after I showed him the video of some young people eating out of a garbage truck”.
This was only 17 minutes into the interview! “They have stolen our work and are trying to keep what is happening from airing”, Ramos said.
Ramos also mentions that Maduro accused him of putting himself on the side of the detractors of his government in the political dispute over power in Venezuela.
One of the things the journalist asked that infuriated the president in the interview was if he was a president or a dictator. Millions of Venezuelans consider Maduro an illegitimate ruler and because of Juán Guaidó (president in charge of Venezuela recognized by more than 50 governments) accuses him of being an “usurper of power”. Ramos also confronted him about the violations to human rights, torture cases and the existence of political prisoners.
Venezuela’s government didn’t question the fact that Ramos and his team were detained, they blindly blamed the anchor. “We don’t lend ourselves to cheap shows,” said Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodríguez. After, Jorge Rodríguez claimed that the interview was unauthorized.
Jorge Ramos’s wrote for the New York Times in the article “Jorge Ramos: El dictador de Venezuela se gana su título”, “What is Maduro scared of? He should let the world watch the interview. If he doesn’t, he will only have proven that he is behaving precisely like a dictator”.
On Tuesday, February 26th, Venezuelan intelligence escorted Ramos and his team to Caracas’ Maiquetía airport, where they left to Miami.