Venezuela denies entry to Dutch freelance reporter

On January 9, 2019, Venezuelan security agents detained Danish freelance reporter Kristoffer Toft when he tried to enter the country on a tourist visa at Maiquetía airport in La Guaira, in northern Venezuela, the reporter told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Officials interrogated Toft and conducted a Google search of his name before denying him entry to the country and placing him on a return flight to Miami, according to the journalist and posts by Venezuelan press freedom organizations on social media.