News

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the Venezuelan government’s expulsion of CNN and CNN en Español:

“We must assume that Nicolás Maduro is kicking out CNN, CNN en Español and other foreign journalists as a precursor to even more violent and deadly tactics against innocent Venezuelans. This press assault is a worrying sign that Maduro intends to dig in and step up the violence with the false belief that the world will never find out because he’s kicking out journalists.

“This isn’t simply an assault against press freedom. It now poses an even graver danger to Venezuelan demonstrators who will now have fewer news outlets to tell the story of what’s happening there to the rest of the world.

“We cannot allow this to have a chilling effect on press coverage of what’s going on in Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro and his government should realize that Venezuelans will not be silenced, will continue sharing their stories through online media and other means, and that news outlets and defenders of freedom everywhere will continue magnifying his atrocities for all the world to see.

“The international community, particularly Latin American governments who are supposed to defend press freedom in accordance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, should condemn this move by Nicolás Maduro.

“The Maduro government’s legitimacy is eroding every single day. Nicolás Maduro needs to realize that he does not have an image or press problem that he can easily expel from his country. He has a repression problem, and the Venezuelan people aren’t standing for it.”