4 threw] stones [at them], shouted slogans that [they] were charlatans, who should not be there.” b) On another occasion, while he and his team were covering a news item, a soldier approached to warn them that they should not be in that place and, since they remained there, “carrying out [their] work, the man [returned] and [told them] ‘well, I can no longer be responsible for you, I have already told you, I don’t know what may happen to you.’ [The man] departed [and when they turned round] approximately 30 people, who were Chavez supporters, were approaching [them]” so that they were closed in “with no security, and they came […] towards [them] with metal tubes, with sticks, and they shouted [at them…] one [of them even] shouted […] “you’re lucky I haven’t got a gun in my hand, because, if I did, I would kill you.” They fled and found a place to hide. Subsequently, “arriving back at the [television] channel, Chavez supporters arrived and hit […] a colleague […], they tore off his glasses, they beat the journalist with a metal tube, which the latter managed to avoid, as did [he himself].” c) On April 11, 2002, he and his team went to Avenida Urdaneta, where they were attacked. One of his colleagues “was struck by a stone […], the cameraman […] was beaten […], the journalist was also punched, spat upon, and the car was hit, scratched, damaged […] because [they were] from the press” and they did not want them to be there because they alleged that journalists did not tell the truth. He was very afraid. d) On November 12, 2002, when covering a news item in the El Conde Sector, “there were some demonstrators from the Government party […] trying to enter the Mayor’s Office […] the problems started, the stones, the tear gas […]” and then they heard “a loud shouting […] and saw […] Molotov cocktails, stones and […] suddenly [they felt] a hail of bullets, an exchange of shots […], suddenly, when he turned to the right he saw two people [fall down] with bullet wounds and […] [he felt] a burning sensation in his leg”, which began to make him despair. When he rose, he realized that he had a bullet wound in his leg and, after this incident, “he began to receive many telephone calls on [his] cellular phone, […] insulting [him],” during which the caller said: “How do you like what we did to you? From now on, many things will happen to you and your family.” e) He could identify the attackers as belonging to the “Government party or Chavism,” because there was a woman coordinator with a T-shirt marked “Coordinadora Simón Bolívar, Bolivariana de Venezuela” and also “because, apart from this, they used an identity card that said ‘MVR’ [and] more than twenty people […] used that identity card [with that] MVR logo [and] bearing the slogans ‘Viva Chávez’ (Long live Chavez), ‘Fuera los Medios’ (Away with the Press) and ‘Go, because we will beat you up.’” f) The journalists “[are] going out into the street with a great deal of fear [and] insecurity, because they [do not have] anyone to protect [them] […] and, nonetheless, they [have] to go out into the street to do [their] work […] and the only safety measure that […] they [have] is a bullet-proof vest […] a gas mask and […] a hard hat […] to protect [their] head, […], because [they have] no other [protection] for the rest [of their body]”, and the vest, gas mask and hard had are provided by the company they work for.

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