Venezuela Locks Up Miami Herald Correspondent

A Miami Herald correspondent was detained in Venezuela Thursday night, and has not been heard from since.

According to local sources consulted by the Miami Herald, Jim Wyss, the newspaper’s Andean bureau chief, was detained Thursday in the city of San Cristobal by Venezuela’s National Guard.

The Herald’s sources said that Wyss was then transferred to the regional intelligence headquarters for Venezuela’s military in San Cristobal.

Wyss has been covering Venezuela for several years for the Herald. He was apparently entering the country from neighboring Colombia when he was detained.

The government of Venezuela has not yet explained why Wyss was arrested, despite efforts by the Miami Herald to contact several officials in Venezuela’s Ministry of Information.

“We are very concerned,” said Aminda Marqués Gonzalez, the Herald’s executive editor, in a statement issued Friday. “There doesn’t seem to be any basis for his detention and we’re trying to figure out what’s going on. We are asking that Jim Wyss be released immediately.”

Wyss is the second American media worker detained by Venezuela’s socialist government this year.

In April, Venezuelan officials arrested Los Angeles based filmmaker Tim Tracy as he was catching a flight to the U.S.

Tracy was accused of inciting post electoral violence by Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, and was held in custody for almost two months on espionage charges that could’ve landed him in prison for several years. He was released in June, shortly before a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuela’s foreign minister.

According to the Miami Herald, Jim Wyss was in Venezuela to report on the country’s chronic food shortages and municipal elections, which will take place in a month.

Wyss is based in Bogotá, Colombia, but travels frequently to Venezuela to report on that country’s political and economic situation.

Manuel Rueda is a correspondent for Fusion, covering Mexico and South America. He travels from donkey festivals, to salsa clubs to steamy places with cartel activity.