FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ The family of a Caracas, Venezuela-based American reporter who freelances for South Florida news outlets fears he has been detained in Venezuela by the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro.
According to media reports, the U.S.-based relatives of journalist Cody Weddle do not know what has happened to him but they think he was detained sometime around 8 a.m. Wednesday after authorities apparently raided his home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Weddle's sister Kelsey McMahan said the family has reached out to the U.S. Embassy to try to find out if he's all right, according to the Bristol Herald Courier, in Virginia.
Weddle, originally from Meadowview, Va., has been a freelance journalist based in Venezuela for the past four years, the newspaper said. He reports for the Miami Herald, WPLG-Ch. 10 and others.
U.S. officials including Assistant Secretary of State Kimberly Breier, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, among others, have called on the Maduro government to release Weddle.
"Completely unacceptable for @NicolasMaduro and his thugs to detain @WPLGLocal10's Cody Weddle for reporting on the successful return of the legitimate Venezuelan President @jguaido," tweeted Scott, the former Florida governor.
In a statement, WPLG-Ch. 10 president E.R. Bert Medina said the Miami-based TV station is working to get answers.
"We are working through various channels to get as much information as we can and to see that Cody is released," Medina said. "Cody has been dedicated and committed to telling the story in Venezuela to our viewers here in South Florida. The arrest of a journalist doing his job is outrageous and unacceptable."
