Me as a journalist in Venezuela

Living in Venezuelan is not only difficult, but most of the times it can be dangerous. Caracas, the capital city, is the most violent city in the world. Thousands of people are killed every year by powerful gangs that are, at least, out of the State's control and, sometimes have the approval and consent of the authorities. Here there are the "colectivos", that are civilians who work as paramilitaries, in compliance with the armed forces and police officers to silence the dissidents.

In the last year, the country has passed through many episodes of protests and clashes between demonstrators and the repressive forces of Maduro's regime. And I was there as a journalist, even though I'm still a student of social communication, to keep record of everything what happened out there. People went to the streets peacefully, to demonstrate their anger and averssion to the government. But none of those protests would last more than one or two hours. Soon, the police and the paramilitaries would disperse the people by shooting them tear gas cans, rubber bullets, water cannons, and fire arms. More than 120 people were fatally silenced in about three months of demonstrations.

At least 4000 people were arrested, most of them for doing nothing more than taking pictures with a cellphone, or yelling slogans against the government. There were thousands of people wounded, as well.

For journalist like me, sometimes the job could be very risky and dangerous. Most of the times we were at the front line of the clashes, taking pictures and documenting everything what happened there. Many colleagues were arrested. Others, got wounded. Our equipments were stolen and destroyed, most of the times by the national guard and the police, other times by violent demonstrators.

In my case, I was wounded seven times by tear gas cans and rubber bullets. One time, I was dragged on the asphalt by agents of the national guard. They wanted to take me to prison, but I refused to that.

In the next posts, I will be telling you what I lived as a journalist in Venezuela. I have hundreds stories to tell that may interest you, and I hope you don't care much about my limited English.

You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram as @joserckeller, and know more about me.