IPI Watch List: Venezuela

IPI Watch List Report

In Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez suffered a major setback in his campaign against Venezuela’s privately-owned and largely pro-opposition media when, in a 2 December 2007 referendum, the country’s citizens narrowly rejected proposals to amend several articles of the Constitution. The proposed amendments would have effectively revoked the 2001 Law on States of Exception, which states that freedom of thought and access to information cannot be restricted, even during emergencies. Nevertheless, the private media continued to face verbal and physical attacks, as well as legal and administrative harassment, in particular in the run-up to the December referendum.
Venezuela was placed on the IPI Watch List on 29 October 2000.