FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A Caracas, Venezuela-based American reporter who freelances for South Florida news outlets was released Wednesday after being detained in Venezuela by the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro.
According to media reports, the U.S.-based relatives of journalist Cody Weddle did not know what had happened to him but they thought he was detained sometime around 8 a.m. Wednesday after authorities apparently raided his home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Weddle, 28, originally from Meadowview, Va., has been a freelance journalist based in Venezuela for the past four years. 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, 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.
