(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. free-lance reporter and his Venezuelan assistant were arrested Wednesday by military counterintelligence agents, according to nation’s union for journalists.

Officers raided the homes of Cody Weddle and Carlos Camacho, arresting them and seizing their equipment, said Marco Ruiz, the general secretary of the National Union of Press Workers. The union and Espacio Publico, a Venezuelan organization that works for a free press, haven’t been able to communicate with the men.

President Nicolas Maduro’s autocratic regime has arrested 36 journalists and press workers this year, including Weddle and Camacho, according to the union known by the Spanish abbreviation SNTP. Last week, Maduro ordered Univision journalist Jorge Ramos held for hours in the presidential palace after he angered him with questions about hunger in the country.

The U.S., which says Maduro’s presidency is illegitimate, said Wednesday he must free the reporters.

‘Remain Incommunicado’

“The State Department is aware of and deeply concerned with reports that another U.S. journalist has been detained in #Venezuela by #Maduro, who prefers to stifle the truth rather than face it. Being a journalist is not a crime. We demand the journalist’s immediate release, unharmed,” Kimberly Breier, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said in a posting on Twitter.

Carlos Correa, director of Espacio Publico, said neighbors confirmed that the detention order came from a military court. The union said it hasn’t been able to discover what crimes the men are accused of.

“Weddle and Camacho remain incommunicado,” the union wrote in Twitter.

Weddle is a graduate of Virginia Tech University and his work has appeared in outlets such as the Miami Herald, WPLG-TV in Miami, the BBC and Al Jazeera English, according to his LinkedIn profile.

WPLG said in a story posted on its website that it last communicated with Weddle on Tuesday afternoon.

Neither Venezuela’s public prosecutors office nor the armed forces press office responded to requests for comment about Weddle.

Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, wrote on Twitter that Weddle’s arrest was unacceptable: “He must be released immediately and the U.S. will not stand for this kind of intimidation!"

--With assistance from Patricia Laya.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Vasquez in Caracas Office at avasquez45@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Patricia Laya at playa2@bloomberg.net, Stephen Merelman, Robert Jameson

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