‘Venezuela releases US journalist after brief detention’

An American freelance journalist detained by Venezuelan authorities has been reportedly released after a short time in custody.

Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union, known by its Spanish acronym SNTP, announced in a Twitter message on Wednesday that Venezuelan military counterintelligence agents had earlier in the day detained American journalist Cody Weddle after raiding his apartment building in the capital, Caracas.

The union said the 29-year-old journalist’s house was raided “by signed order of a military tribunal,” and that security forces “took him under custody, along with his work equipment.”

Weddle’s assistant, Venezuelan citizen Carlos Camacho, “was also detained by Executive Order of the Counterintelligence Military.”

The SNTP did not provide details on the reasons behind the detention of the two individuals.

Florida’s WPLG Local 10, one of the news outlets for which Weddle worked, said later he “has been released after being detained by Venezuelan authorities” after 12 hours in custody and was at Caracas’ Simon Bolivar International Airport waiting to board a US-bound flight.

The Miami-based TV station said Camacho had been released, too.

Weddle worked in Venezuela for several years as a correspondent for a variety of US media, including ABC, CBS, and the Miami Herald, and British daily The Telegraph.

Venezuela has been shaken by political unrest in the past several months. In January, tensions worsened after opposition figure Juan Guaido proclaimed himself “interim president” of Venezuela.

US President Donald Trump immediately recognized that self-proclamation. Ever since, the US has been escalating tensions against oil-rich Venezuela, and has not ruled out the military option to take out Maduro’s government.

Caracas has said Washington is considering an invasion of Venezuela. But on Wednesday, Russian news agency Sputnik cited US special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams as saying that US threats of an invasion of Venezuela were empty and were merely meant to keep the Venezuelan military “nervous.”

The Venezuelan military has reaffirmed its support for Maduro despite the US threats.

The Venezuelan opposition blames Maduro for an ailing economy, hyperinflation, power cuts, and shortages of basic items, urging him to resign. Maduro accuses the opposition of seeking to stage a coup d’état with help from the US.