A dramatic frontpage splash has turned into a nationwide debate on press freedom in Venezuela.

On August 12, El Nacional newspaper, openly opposed to President Hugo Chavez, ran a photograph of a dozen bodies at a morgue in Caracas under a headline about deteriorating security in the oil producing country.

It was later re-printed in Tal Cual. On August 17, the government imposed a month-long ban on them for printing “violent, bloody or grotesque images”. Newspapers say it is an attack on their freedom ahead of September elections.

“The aim of the photo was to shock people so that in some way they react to the situation, since the government does nothing,” EL Nacional’s editor Miguel Henrique Otero said.