Jorge Ramos was deported and barred re-entry by Venezuelan officials one day after his brief detention while interviewing embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
The National Union of Press Workers in Venezuela, the chief organization representing credentialed journalists in the country, confirmed that the Mexican-American journalist had been ordered to be deported Tuesday by the Maduro regime. Ramos and his team were placed on an American Airlines flight from Caracas to Miami at 11:15 a.m. ET.
“They are on their way to immigration. This is the entire team from Univision that has been deported and banned by Nicolas Maduro,” read a tweet from the union sent in Spanish.
#AHORA | Ya se dirigen a migración. Este es el equipo completo de @Uninoticias deportado y expulsado del país por @nicolasmaduro #26Feb pic.twitter.com/0gTdXx4fFQ
— SNTP (@sntpvenezuela) February 26, 2019
Pedro Ultreras, one of the correspondents who was detained Monday, captured the moment when Maduro’s intelligence forces escorted Ramos and the team from their Caracas hotel directly to a holding place in the international airport.
“At this moment, the Univision team which is being deported from Venezuela is leaving the hotel and heading to the airport. We are being accompanied by personnel from the Mexican and American embassies,” he tweeted in Spanish along with a video.
En este momento el equipo de @uninoticias expulsado de Venezuela salimos del hotel en Caracas rumbo al aeropuerto. Estamos siendo acompañados por personal de las embajadas de Mexico y Estados Unidos. @jorgeramosnews @danielcoronell pic.twitter.com/01UcnCQUn9
— Pedro Ultreras (@pedroultreras) February 26, 2019
The brief detention has drawn the attention of many leaders throughout the Western Hemisphere a day after national representatives met in Bogota for a Lima Group summit. Vice President Mike Pence was in attendance representing the United States.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a statement calling for a common defense of a free press in the region. Colombia’s vice president, Marta Lucia Ramirez, turned to social media to express support for a free press in Venezuela, saying Ramos was lucky to not “become the Jamal Khashoggi” of Latin America.
