Sheyla Urdaneta - Venezuela Collapse
"In Venezuela, there seems to be a double risk: that of a journalist and that of a woman. These together make that women journalists have to earn their respect. Fortunately, more and more women journalists are heading the media as directors or team leaders. Others set up their own media companies. Every step we take we see as an achievement. After all, it is not easy to change patterns, but we have not given up and we will not give up."
Listen to a statement from Sheyla here:
In Venezuela, there seems to be a double risk: that of a journalist and that of a woman. These together make that women journalists have to earn their respect. Fortunately, more and more women journalists are heading the media as directors or team leaders. Others set up their own media companies. Every step we take we see as an achievement. After all, it is not easy to change patterns, but we have not given up and we will not give up.
One of the most delicate and dangerous things in Venezuela are the arrests of journalists. This happened to me while reporting in an area inhabited by indigenous people: Sierra de Perijá. Indigenous people in that area were rounded up by Colombian insurgents and taken to work on coca plantations. All this with the knowledge of the authorities. The military stopped me and took me to the government's intelligence headquarters. They took away my phone and forced me to give names of people I was working with. They also threatened me with personal information such as my place of residence and daughter. I was so scared then of what could happen to me and my daughter. Afterwards, I had to enter an office several times where three men were sitting. Two of them asked me intimidating questions, while one of them recorded me with a phone. After eight hours, they let me go. It was a black day in my life.
Online violence in Venezuela comes mainly from government and criminal groups. This poses a danger to those doing research. I focus on human trafficking, and that means I have to be very careful about what I share with my network. I also once received death threats from a leader of a criminal group who got arrested for arms trafficking. He threatened to kill me in the middle of the editorial office of the newspaper I worked for. Because the environment is so unsafe and I encounter many threats, I am very careful in my messaging. When I get in touch with my sources of information, I use different ways to communicate or get around.
Journalism is my favourite thing in life after being a mother. I could not be anything else but a journalist. That is why I would not quit. I love making visible what is happening to the most vulnerable, exposing injustice and accompanying their struggles through my work. We must continue to tell and show what is happening in Venezuela. If we all stay silent out of fear, we will all eventually perish, and that is not what the Venezuelans, or at least I, want.
This is why it is now more important than ever that women journalists form a support network for each other. We need to support each other in the victories and in the tough times. But whatever happens: do not stop investigating.