On July 28, 2024, presidential elections were held in Venezuela. These elections generated varied expectations inside and outside the country because, for the first time in more than ten years, there was a real possibility that the South American country would have a change of president. Chavismo and the opposition once again faced each other at the polls. Nicolás Maduro, the current president of the country, saw how the outsider Edmundo González Urrutia was gaining more and more support and voting intentions from Venezuelans.
However, the results issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), the highest governing body of elections in Venezuela, were at odds to what the majority of the population expected. Nicolás Maduro was quickly proclaimed the winner without the publication of the complete and disaggregated results. Immediately, dozens of countries expressed their concern about what was happening in Venezuela and urged the electoral authorities of the nation to publish the voting records that validate the results issued.
More than a month later, these receipts have not yet been published by the CNE, but by the Venezuelan opposition, which claims to have won the presidential elections.
In the midst of all this context is the story of two journalists. One from Argentina and the other from Venezuela. Both joined forces and supported each other logistically and emotionally to cover the presidential elections on the ground on July 28. Both met at the seminar given by the Center for Media Integrity of the Americas (CMIA) between April 8 and 12 of this year.
Two journalists join forces to tell stories in Venezuela
Lucía Sol Miguel, an Argentine journalist from the newspaper La Nación, traveled from Buenos Aires to Caracas with the purpose of covering the presidential elections, but before arriving on July 28, the southern reporter had extensive preparation. “I did a lot of pre-production. I spoke with analysts, I had written pieces and interviews. I also spoke with my editors and senior management of the newspaper. We evaluated different scenarios with lawyers. It was important to know my rights,” said the Argentine journalist.
Meanwhile, in Caracas was Iván Ernesto Reyes, a Venezuelan journalist and photographer who works for the digital media outlet Efecto Cocuyo. Reyes and Miguel talked on several occasions about a possible coverage by the Argentine journalist. “It was necessary to know the objectives that La Nación and Lucía had with the reporting in Venezuela. We spoke several times to adjust details and to answer some questions that Lucía might have about Venezuela,” said Iván Reyes.
Lucía and Iván met with 12 other Latin American journalists at a CMIA seminar focused on development issues. It was during those days in April that a kindship had been made between these two reporters with experience in electoral coverage.
“The seminar gave me one of the best contacts that it could give me to be able to do that coverage (…) I feel that a good bond was generated between all of us who participated in the seminar. We talked periodically, it was not only a space to have a colleague's phone number, but it worked to make friends,” recalled Lucía Sol Miguel about her experience at the CMIA seminar in 2024. Miguel also said that another seminar participant, with experience in coverage in Venezuela, wrote to her daily giving recommendations and data on an environment that could quickly become hostile.
“I covered the elections in Colombia (2022) and Ecuador (2023), but I knew that this was a different election,” said the Argentine journalist.
Just one day after the presidential elections were held, Venezuela entered a critical situation where hundreds of protests took place throughout the country, especially in popular sectors. Both Lucía Sol Miguel and Iván Reyes joined forces to be able to cover the demonstrations that took place in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
The importance of empathy and collaborative journalism
Although Lucía and Iván work for different media outlets, they managed to team up and work collaboratively to tell stories for their respective audiences. The Argentine journalist delivered two to three articles daily that were published in her country. With context, data and testimonies gathered on the ground, Lucía Sol Miguel's work focused on having an empathetic and close look at Venezuelans.
Meanwhile, Iván Reyes photographed and wrote stories for the Venezuelan audience that follows Efecto Cocuyo inside and outside the country. “Collaborative work is important. Competition is something that contravenes the principle of being a journalist. In the end we are public servants and carrying information has to be paramount, not one's own agendas,” said Iván Reyes.
The emotional component is always present in this and all coverage. However, in situations where even life is at risk, it is necessary to have emotional support and empathy. This is what the journalists from Venezuela and Argentina experienced during the coverage they both did on the presidential elections. “It is not a coverage like any other. I would recommend always having a person you can trust. Someone who can help you from within, but emotional support is also very important before, during and after the coverage,” said Lucía Sol Miguel.
The Argentine journalist returned to her country despite the fact that her flight was cancelled. Together with her editors at La Nación, they had to look for last-minute alternatives to ensure a smooth departure. Finally, she returned on a connecting flight to Madrid. Once in Buenos Aires, Lucía Sol Miguel has participated in television programs and conferences where she has explained what the coverage in Venezuela was like and where she has felt well received by the Venezuelan migrant community living in the southern country.
“I realized what Venezuelans are like. The community here has the same feelings as those in Venezuela, but multiplied because they have the desire to return. They see us journalists with great gratitude for having covered their country. I was just doing my job, but that also shows you the human side of journalism,” said Lucía Sol Miguel.
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