The Venezuelan police have arrested travel YouTuber Oscar Alejandro Pérez Martínez. One of his videos raised alarm among the authorities and has been released by government officials as justification for the arrest. In the recording he shows the Credicard Tower, in Caracas, and assures that the servers of the country's private payment banking system operate there and ventures to joke that if someone places a bomb there, Venezuela would be left without banks. Pérez Martínez was presented to court accused of being involved in “terrorist activities.” This Monday afternoon he was released from prison, but remains under investigation.
Prosecutor Tarek William Saab held a press conference this Monday to denounce “new conspiracies that threaten the peace of the country.” He did not refer to the YouTuber's case, but in questions answered to journalists he said that the Prosecutor's Office had requested his release and that he was under investigation, so he is obliged to appear in court. To confirm the crimes accused of him, Saab responded with a rhetorical question. “Isn't it a crime to present the image of a public and private building whose ultimate entity is to provide a public service, insinuating that it should be blown up with a bomb?” For Chavismo, the YouTuber has disclosed sensitive information and has incited to plant a bomb, although those were not exactly his words.
The content that Pérez creates is similar to that of others such as Luisito Comunica or Alex Tienda, who travel the world and share their experience. Last month, the youtuber and 37-year-old journalist published a video about his visit to Nicaragua, where he wanted to show life under the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. After his visit to the country, he reported having been censored. “I felt peace in Nicaragua, but it is not real peace. Things are calm but because if people dare to think differently you will go to prison or I will force you to leave the country,” she commented in one of her videos from her series in the Central American country.
Then, after passing through El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele spread the video that Pérez dedicated to his country on his social networks. On his recent visit to Venezuela, before trying to travel to Canaima, he was giving lectures on how to make money on social networks, as he does thanks to his 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube. He also does activism for the LGTBIQ + community.
A Venezuelan YouTuber came to El Salvador to learn, first-hand, the opinion of Salvadorans.
This is what he found.
PS I don't know the YouTuber; From what I see it is quite well known; but if you don't believe him, he can come and make his own video of it. https://t.co/Tx8xIpRb0b
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 30, 2023
Prosecutor Tarek William Saab held a press conference this Monday to denounce “new conspiracies that threaten the peace of the country.” He did not refer to the case of youtuber, but in questions answered to journalists he said that the Prosecutor's Office had requested his release and that he remained under investigation, so he is obliged to appear in court. To confirm the crimes he is accused of, Saab responded with a rhetorical question. “Isn't it a crime to present the image of a public and private building whose ultimate entity is to provide a public service, insinuating that it should be blown up with a bomb?”
The prosecutor did dedicate an extensive comment to a Noticias Caracol report on alleged actions by Venezuelan intelligence officials, in collaboration with criminal groups, to persecute dissidents of the Maduro Government in Colombian territory. “Colombia's Caracol television channel has aired a disgusting report, in which they attempt to whitewash the conspirators of Operation White Bracelet,” said the official, who accused them of advocating crime and called them a “dunk.” . “I denounce Caracol Televisión for participating in a media operation, to disqualify all the work we have done, together with the security forces, to dismantle these conspiracies, which has prevented the destabilization of the country.”
This is not the first time that the Venezuelan Government has detained a citizen for what they say on their social networks. Since 2017, with the law against hate, violations of freedom of expression have increased. From prank videos or complaints that go viral, tweets critics or opinion articles published on Facebook have led to the persecution of their authors or even their disseminators. Last year, however, Maduro embarked on a strategy to reach out to young people and invited influencers and youtubers to try to get hold of their codes. A few weeks ago, Parliament announced a “law against fascism” with which Chavismo threatens all those it considers “traitors to the country.”
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