After eight days of being held captive a Venezuelan TV journalist was released from her captors. Nairobi Pinto is the assignment editor at Globovision, a private news network. It seems that she has been involved in a string of kidnappings and it is unclear exactly why she was abducted. According to BBC kidnappings for ransom are very popular in Venezuela, in recent years diplomats, business men and athletes have all been the victims of recent abductions.
In most cases, the people who were kidnapped were released after a short amount of time but some have actually loss their lives as a result of these kidnappings. Some being killed by kidnappers others from injuries they gained from being held captive.
“They treated me well. They never touched me, never mistreated me. I ate all three meals,” said Pinto. The police believe the almost 3,000 officers who were in search of Miss Nairobi played a major role in this. According to Latino Fox News over 60 people have been kidnapped in Venezuela this year. Several people who have fallen victim to these kidnappings have been in the media heavily. This poses the question of whether or not this is an attack on those who represent the world in reference to media or those who control it. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists while covering an event an intern, Dayana Méndez, was buckshot in the back, leg and arms. Following this she was detained by the National Guard Troops but was not charged with anything. It is obvious by situations like this that journalists in Venezeula are not treated with respect and are often taken advantage of by everyone even the government. A solution to this issue has yet to be found, but the fact that the journalists continously go and fight for what they believe in either way creates hope. But, first the root to the issue must be discovered, are the kidnappers doing this for money? Or is there merit behind their actions?