GÜIRIA, Venezuela (AP) — Regina Garcia Cano was the reporter behind the Associated Press story that provided the first comprehensive report and identified some of the people killed in recent U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.
In dozens of interviews in villages on Venezuela’s stunning northeast coast, where some boats left, residents and relatives told Garcia Cano that the dead men had indeed used drugs but were not narco-terrorists as alleged by the Trump administration.
Most of the nine men were making such crafts for the first or second time, earning at least $500 per trip, residents and relatives said. The four dead include a fisherman, his down-on-his-luck bus driver, an ex-army cadet and a local crime boss. Among others were laborers and a motorcycle driver.
This is an interview with her editor, Del Quentin Wilber, about Garcia Cano’s story.
Where did you get the idea to pursue this story and why did you want to write it?
I traveled to the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela in the days following the first attack by US forces. I arrived with the intention of identifying the 11 men killed, and left with an understanding of local dynamics but no firm names. People were afraid to speak. My flight back to Caracas was still on the runway even though I had already decided I would be back in the area in a few weeks.
I am determined to identify as many people as possible due to conflicting statements from the US and Venezuelan governments about the military operation. The US government has not released any information on the dead, and the Venezuelan government has been equally circumspect.
What are the challenges of this type of reporting?
AP video journalist Juan Arraez and I faced several challenges in reporting this story, chief among them the very real fear of sources that reporters would be punished — especially by the Venezuelan government — for speaking out.
Repression is nothing new in Venezuela, but the government of President Nicolas Maduro has intensified it since last year’s presidential election, when supporters of the ruling party declared him the winner despite evidence to the contrary. More than 2,000 people were detained in the days after the election, some for social media posts critical of the government.
Relatives of some of the people killed in the strikes were particularly afraid to speak to the AP because police and state intelligence searched their homes shortly after their loved ones’ deaths.
What did you find when you got there?
Besides the fear, I saw poverty throughout the trip. Closed businesses, abandoned houses, long queues of vehicles and motorbikes waiting for fuel and crumbling infrastructure. I also admired Venezuela’s stunning natural beauty.
How did you verify what people told you?
We spoke to several people from different communities who know men at different stages of their lives. We used social media posts and publicly available information to corroborate some information.
Has anything in particular made a lasting impression on you?
Lack of information has affected the lives of everyone in these villages. Even knowing the death, the relatives are unable to mourn properly because the government does not confirm the deaths and they are likely to be punished if a funeral is held.
I know how important mourning is. I’ve lost loved ones in recent years, and mourning rituals have helped me make sense of each loss. These families will never have that opportunity.
Relatives of some of the men expressed concern over what they described as an unexplained loss.