; Whereas, in Venezuela, the Maduro regime continues to target independent media outlets, restrict the exercise of freedom of expression, and severely limit access to accurate information, with local civil society organization Public Space (Espacio Público) registering 349 attacks on journalists and media workers between January and November 2023, including censorship, verbal attacks, and intimidation; Whereas press freedom continues to face challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, including in— (1) Ethiopia, the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, where a crackdown on the press has included— (A) an entrenched pattern of arbitrarily detaining journalists; with at least 8 journalists behind bars as of December 2023, according to CPJ; (B) significant due process and fair trial concerns in the cases of detained journalists, such as in May 2023, when online journalist Gobeze Sisay was arrested in neighboring Djibouti and transferred to Ethiopia under unclear circumstances; (C) the detention of journalists arrested under state of emergency provisions at a military camp in eastern Ethiopia without judicial oversight or access to family and legal counsel; (D) the use of internet disruptions during political tension or in restive parts of the country, including the Oromia and Amhara regions, making it difficult for journalists to report safely and freely; (E) the failure to provide a credible accounting for the 2021 killings of journalists Dawit Kebede Araya and Sisay Fida; (F) the consistent persecution of media trying to cover the conflict and violence in the Oromia and Amhara regions, including the detention of at least 6 journalists as of March 27, 2024, who were reporting on events in Amhara; and (G) the forced exile and deportation of independent journalists