Overview
- Immigration officers at Caracas’s Simón Bolívar airport held the three-person team for about two hours, photographing and questioning them before declaring their entry inadmissible.
- The journalists reported that their passports were retained in Venezuela and that they were escorted onto a flight to Bolivia with instructions the documents would be returned in Argentina.
- C5N said the crew intended to report on everyday life in Venezuela and provided hotel and driver details during questioning before being expelled without a stated reason.
- The Venezuelan press union SNTP denounced the deportation, saying officials told the team they did not have authorized entry and confirming the retention of their passports.
- The crew remained in transit in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, awaiting flights back to Buenos Aires as outlets noted the incident occurred on the same day reports said U.S. F/A-18 jets entered Venezuelan airspace.