TV Republika is the only Polish television network to have reached the Colombian–Venezuelan border. Bartosz Gonzalez went live from a place now being discussed around the world. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to enter the country, despite being Venezuelan and despite his father living there. “This is a very painful experience for me,” he said.
Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared before a federal court in New York, where they were charged with four counts, including participation in a narco-terrorist conspiracy and smuggling cocaine into the United States. They pleaded not guilty. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 17.
At the Colombian–Venezuelan border is Bartosz Gonzalez from TV Republika. He comes from Venezuela, where his parents still live. Unfortunately, he was unable to enter the country. A border guard stopped him at the crossing. “This is a very painful experience for me, and it highlights how absurd this regime is. If we think of a banana republic, this is precisely the illustration,” he said.
“I said that some 200-plus kilometers from here is Mérida. My father lives in Mérida, and I cannot see him. Many Venezuelans who left the country are in the same situation. Sometimes it is decades without contact with family,” he pointed out.
“This is something we should remember in Poland. Poland regained its freedom not so long ago—let us appreciate what we have. Not everyone enjoys the same comfort as Poland,” Gonzalez said. “We are in a country where that comfort does not exist,” he added.
“When it becomes possible to enter, we will be here as well and show on Republika what Venezuela looks like after liberation, after the people of Maduro and Chávez have left their posts. I am alone—am I dangerous? According to a representative of the Venezuelan regime, a soldier on the bridge, I am not allowed to enter. A word threatens the regime!” the Republika reporter added.
According to his account, the internet works in Venezuela and social media platforms are accessible, but state media present the entire situation in a completely reversed manner, portraying it as a coup attempt. They do not focus on the charges, empty shelves, or Venezuelans who are unable to see their families.