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Alert

Bomb attack damages newspaper building

(IPYS-Venezuela/IFEX) - At dawn on 3 August 2010, the headquarters of "Las Noticias de Cojedes" newspaper in central Venezuela were attacked by two men on a motorcycle who threw two homemade bombs at the premises, which damaged the outside of the building and set fire to a van belonging to "Diario La Opinión" newspaper. Both papers are owned by the same person.

Even though "Las Noticias de Cojedes" editor Eligio Elorga told IPYS-Venezuela that the motive for the attack is unknown, he does not rule out that it may be linked to the newspaper's editorial line. One week earlier, several plots of land owned by the paper were seized following orders issued by the governor of the State of Cojedes, Teodoro Bolívar, and the mayor of the Municipality of Falcón, Carlos Añez.

The explosives were apparently meant to cause damage to the inside of the building; however, the damage to the building was minimal. Officers of Cojedes' Fire Brigade and the Police confirmed the bombs were homemade.

IPYS-Venezuela issues an urgent appeal to the authorities to monitor the repeated cases of attacks against the media in the State of Cojedes.