Nelson Bocaranda

Nelson Bocaranda Sardi (born 18 April 1945) is a Venezuelan television commentator, columnist, investigative journalist, and founder of the Runrunes website. He has received several awards for his work, including the 1985 National Journalism Award.

Early life and education Bocaranda was born in Boconó, Venezuela on 18 April 1945 as the oldest of five children of Alfredo Bocaranda González and Italia Sardi Consalvi de Bocaranda. Of Spanish and Italian ancestry, Bocaranda's grandfather was a storekeeper and his father was a pharmacist. During his university tenure, Bocaranda worked for various radio stations in Caracas, including Radio Aeropuerto, , Radio Continente and . A puerta cerrada and En confianza were other popular television shows he moderated. By 1996, Bocaranda held primetime television broadcasts in Caracas.

Bocaranda returned to late night television at VIVOplay in 2015 following a long absence from regular television. Bocaranda has criticized both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, and their governments. The following year, Bocaranda and his son created the Runrunes website.

Bocaranda was the first to reveal Chávez's 2011 cancer diagnosis. Until that time, information about Chávez's health was held secret by the government; Chávez's diagnosis was confirmed by government officials the day after Bocaranda revealed it.

Bocaranda's Twitter was hacked in 2016 and the hackers used the account to Tweet that Bocaranda acknowledged being a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) puppet.

Responses In response to Bocaranda reporting June 2009 rumors that BBVA Provincial would be sold, El País published that the "Venezuelan branch of BBVA today denied ... the 'irresponsible' rumors spread by journalist Nelson Bocaranda, on his radio program Runrunes", adding that "this information has already been denied both in the Runrunes program" and by another agency that reported it.

The Venezuelan Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS – Press and Society Institute) issued a report in 2013 on pressure directed by the judicial system at journalists who were critical of the government, listing as one of the cases a court summons to Bocaranda after he revealed the cancer diagnosis of Chávez which stated that Bocaranda had been "associated with acts of violence after the April 14 elections".

Bocaranda was described in 2011 and 2012 Wall Street Journal articles as a "prominent" and "respected Venezuelan columnist". In 2015, the Spanish newspaper Ideal described Bocaranda as a "veteran" and "the most popular journalist in Venezuela", citing his Twitter followers, adding that "different spheres of the Venezuelan government" said Bocaranda worked for the CIA due to his reports on Chávez's illness; the allegations have never been substantiated.

Awards

Bocaranda received various awards in Venezuela. He was awarded the Municipal Prize in Journalism in 1965 and 1967. He was awarded the National Prize of Journalism from the Fundación Premio Nacional de Periodismo (National Journalism Award Foundation) in 1985, recognized in the latter's Person of the Year category in 2019.

Publications El Poder de los Secretos [The Power of Secrets] (2015) with Diego Arroyo Gil, Planeta de Venezuela,