Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to support freedom of the press in Venezuela.

We remain concerned about the increasing intimidation and harassment of the media by the Maduro regime. A statement by the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Venezuela on 10 March stated that there have been 9 detentions of journalists, and the independent press since its last report in September 2020. We highlighted this issue at the UN Human Rights Council meeting on Venezuela in March, and signed up to the ministerial statement by the International Contact Group on Venezuela on 2 February, which called for an immediate end to repression and attacks on the media in Venezuela.