Rubio slams Venezuela for detention

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is calling on the Organization of American States (OAS) to investigate the detention of an American journalist by Venezuelan authorities.

Miami Herald reporter Jim Wyss was released after a nearly two-day detention by Venezuelan authorities under suspicion that he did not have permission to be in the country.

{mosads}Rubio, in a statement first reported by the Miami Herald, called Venezuela a “chronic violator of press freedom that must be held accountable.”

“Jim Wyss is now safely home in the United States, but he should never have been detained in the first place,” he said.

“The OAS should begin an official investigation into Jim Wyss’s case, and make clear to all journalists in Venezuela and across the western hemisphere that any government that impedes their work will have to answer for it,” Rubio added.

The Florida senator, who has been a frequent critic of the Venezuelan government, slammed Venezuela’s “inept leaders” as “responsible for the country’s rotten economy, rampant corruption and its dubious distinction as one of the murder capitals of the Americas.”

“Journalists simply inform the world about what’s going on, and we should demand that they be able to work freely and safely everywhere,” Rubio said.