U.S. Reporter Released After 2-Day Venezuela Detention -- Reportedly the Eleventh Time the Country's Nabbed a Journalist This Year

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities have released a Miami Herald reporter they detained almost two days ago while he reported on the South American country's economic crisis.

Jim Wyss (Image source: Facebook)

The Miami Herald reported in its website that Jim Wyss was released from a detention facility in Caracas on Saturday afternoon and handed over to U.S. Embassy officials.

Wyss’ detention marks the 11th time a journalist has been apprehended in Venezuela this year, the Herald reported.

“It’s a completely arbitrary measure, one that goes against our constitution,” a member of Venezuelan’s Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, a freedom of expression watchdog, told the Herald. (The member requested anonymity because of fear of reprisals).

Wyss was initially detained by the National Guard then transferred to Venezuela’s counter military intelligence, Dirección General de Inteligencia Militar, in San Cristóbal, Táchira, local sources told the . He was believed to have been transferred later to Caracas.

Herald executive editor Aminda Marques Gonzalez said in the report that "Jim is safe and soon will be reunited with his loved ones."

Wyss, the Herald's Andean bureau chief, was detained Thursday by the National Guard in San Cristobal, a western city near the border with Colombia.

The Herald's World Editor John Yearwood flew to Caracas Saturday to usher the reporter out of the country, the newspaper said. U.S. Embassy officials are also working on his release.