Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is seeking a third six-year term in Sunday’s presidential election, accused international media on Tuesday of being “killers of lies.”
“They have tried a thousand times to make us invisible, now the operation is carried out by murderers, lying murderers, the EFE agency in Spain, the AFP agency, the Associated Press, CNN and several television stations here. We know the story again, I have seen the film,” Maduro said during a rally in San Cristobal, on the border with Colombia.
He said the media was censoring and “manipulating” information about his election campaign.
“They are already condemning the fraud. No one is going to tarnish the political process. If they miss the (red) signal, they will regret it for 200 years, and it will be the last mistake of their lives, it will be their last political mistake, if there is justice against the fascists,” he continued.
Nicolás Maduro has already protested twice in the past week against international agencies and media outlets, calling them “trash” and the “spearhead” of an alleged opposition plan to expose fraud in Sunday’s elections.
In this election, Maduro will face Edmundo González Urrutia, an opposition candidate who leads in most polls but whom his party has disparaged as rigged.
About a hundred opponents have been arrested during the campaign, which officially ends on Thursday, according to human rights groups.
The Foreign Press Association (APEX) has rejected Nicolás Maduro’s verbal attacks, calling on the international press “not to engage in political debates or baseless accusations.”
Venezuela ranks 156th out of 180 countries in the global press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
According to the National College of Journalists (CNP), more than 400 media outlets have closed in Venezuela over the past 20 years.
The government has taken the popular RCTV channel off the air and ordered cable operators to remove Spanish-language CNN, Deutsche Welle and the Colombian channels NTN24 and RCN.
More than 21.6 million Venezuelans are called to vote in Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela.