Censorship in Venezuela refers to all actions which can be considered as suppression in speech in the country. More recently, Reporters Without Borders ranked Venezuela 159th out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index 2023 and classified Venezuela's freedom of information in the "very difficult situation" level.
The Constitution of Venezuela says that freedom of expression and press freedom are protected. Article 57 states that "Everyone has the right to freely express his or her thoughts, ideas or opinions orally, in writing or by any other form of expression, and to use for such purpose any means of communication and diffusion, and no censorship shall be established." It also states that "Censorship restricting the ability of public officials to report on matters for which they are responsible is prohibited." According to Article 58, "Everyone has the right to timely, truthful and impartial information, without censorship...""Constitution of Venezuela in English" 1999 Constitution of Venezuela
Human Rights Watch said that during "the leadership of President Chávez and now Mr. Maduro, the accumulation of power in the executive branch and the erosion of human rights guarantees have enabled the government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute its critics" and reported that broadcasters may be censored if they criticize the government.
Reporters Without Borders said that the media in Venezuela is "almost entirely dominated by the government and its obligatory announcements, called cadenas".
In 1998, independent television represented 88% of the 24 national television channels while the other 12% of channels were controlled by the Venezuelan government. By 2014, there were 105 national television channels with only 48 channels, or 46%, representing independent media while the Venezuelan government and the "communitarian channels" it funded accounted for 54% of channels, or the 57 remaining channels. Freedom House has also stated that there is "systematic self-censorship" encouraged toward the remaining private media due to pressure by the Venezuelan government.
According to the National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela, 115 media outlets have been shut down between 2013 and 2018 during Nicolás Maduro's government, including 41 printed means, 65 radio outlets and 9 television channels.
The Press and Society Institute of Venezuela found at least 350 cases of violations of freedom of expression during the first seven months of 2019.
In 2022, pro-government deputy admitted that the government blocked digital outlets.
Press censorship During the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the censorship of the press, alongside acts of repression such as torturing and killing opponents, were used to maintain his authoritarian government. Authorities monitored information entering and leaving Venezuela in both the English and Spanish languages, including wiretapping telephone lines. Following 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, which removed Pérez Jiménez, newspapers began to disseminate the abuses that occurred during his administration. For at least two decades after coup, press freedom in Venezuela maintained stability.
Into the 1980s, press freedom in Venezuela began to deteriorate, when the Jaime Lusinchi administration starting having an antagonistic relationship with the press . The Inter American Press Association reported 87 attacks against press freedom between 1984 and 1987. The Lusinchi government especially attacked the press after his affair with his mistress Blanca Ibáñez began to be disseminated by the media.
Both President Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro would pressure media organizations until they failed by preventing them from acquiring necessary resources. The Venezuelan government would manipulate foreign exchange rates for media organizations so that they could no longer import their resources or fine them heavily. The government would then use a front company to give the troubled organization a "generous" offer to purchase the company. Following the buyout, the front company would promise that the staff would not change but would slowly release them and change their coverage to be in favor of the Venezuelan government.
Soon after Nicolás Maduro became President of Venezuela, El Universal, Globovisión and Últimas Noticias, three of some of the largest Venezuelan media organizations, were sold to owners that were sympathetic to the Venezuelan government. Shortly after, employees of the affected media organizations began to resign, some supposedly due to censorship enforced by the new owners of the organizations.
Following nearly 83 years of printing newspapers to the Venezuelan public, on 17 March 2016, the newspaper released its final edition of its physical newspaper, discontinuing the use of printed material. On its final front-page editorial, El Carabobeño explained that the government agency that has the responsibility of distributing newsprint had not attempted to sell the necessary resources to the newspaper.
Following Maduro's election, 55 newspapers in Venezuela stopped circulation due to difficulties and government censorship between 2013 and 2018.
Radio censorship
The radio station Radio Suave of Isa Dobles was shut down after it covered the trial of President Jaime Lusinchi's divorce, later reappearing on air without Dobles' program.
In 2001, there were 500 independent radio stations in Venezuela and only 1 state-sanctioned station.
In August 2009, Diosdado Cabello, then director of the National Commission of Telecommunications (CONATEL), ordered the intervention of 32 radio and 2 television stations, decision that received the name of Radiocide.
Nelson Bocaranda and his son created the Runrunes website after his radio show, Los Runrunes de Nelson, was cancelled in 2009 after the Venezuelan government reportedly said that it would revoke Unión Radio's license if Bocaranda's criticism was allowed to continue on air. Janan Abanhassan and Andrés Cañizález stated in 2016 that the website was born from the censorship that forced Bocaranda off the radio; they named Bocaranda as a "leader of public opinion in Venezuela" for "becoming the spokesperson for the truth, for disseminating the information under investigative support and for having trust and credibility in Venezuelan society".
In 2017, the Maduro government removed 46 radio stations from the air according to the National Union of Workers of the Press.
Since 22 January 2019, Conatel has repeatedly advised against the promotion of violence and the disavowing of institutional authorities, according to the Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television imposed in 2004. Some radio programs have been ordered off air, including 's radio program, one of the most listened-to programs in the country. Other programs have been temporarily canceled or received censorship warnings, including a threat to close private television and radio stations if they recognized Juan Guaidó as acting president or interim president of Venezuela.
Television censorship In 2008, Reporters Without Borders reported that following "years of 'media war,' Hugo Chávez and his government took control of almost the entire broadcast sector".
During the 2014 Venezuelan protests, Colombian news channel NTN24 was taken off the air by CONATEL (the Venezuelan government agency appointed for the regulation, supervision and control over telecommunications) for "promoting violence"."Señal del canal NTN24 fue sacada de la parrilla de cable" ("NTN24 channel signal was taken from the wire") , El Universal, 13 February 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014. Mr. Maduro then denounced the Agence France-Presse (AFP) for manipulating information about the protests. After an opposition Twitter campaign asked participants of the Oscar ceremony to speak out in support of them, for the first time in decades, private television channel Venevisión did not show The Oscars, where Jared Leto showed solidarity with the opposition "dreamers" when he won his award.
When a TV series portraying Hugo Chávez titled El Comandante was to be aired for the first time, the Bolivarian government censored the episode with Mr. Maduro saying that El Comandante was "a series to try to disfigure a true leader and a Latin American and world hero", while CONATEL tweeted to Venezuelans that they should inform the commission "if any cable operator insults the legacy of Hugo Chavez transmitting the series ‘El Comandante,’ ... #NobodySpeaksIllOfChavezHere".
On February 12, 2017, CNN en Español was taken off air by CONATEL following a news report accusing the Venezuelan government of selling passports and visas to persons from Middle Eastern countries with dubious backgrounds for profits through its embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The government deemed the report "(A threat to) the peace and democratic stability of our Venezuelan people since they generate an environment of intolerance."
On April 10, 2017, among anti-government protests, Argentina's Todo Noticias and Colombia's El Tiempo was taken off air by the orders made by CONATEL.
On August 24, 2017, CONATEL removed two Colombian TV channels Caracol TV and RCN Colombia off the air. CONATEL accuses these channels of "collaborated with the dissemination of a message that incited the assassination of the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros." The decision to remove these channels was criticized by OAS Secreatary General Luis Almagro and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. On the same day, President Nicolás Maduro has been highly critical of international media organisations during his press conference, saying that it was "hard to neutralize the lying power of CNN, Fox News and the BBC by sowing hate every day". Mr. Maduro also said that the BBC "has become the biggest propaganda apparatus for the military intervention" in Venezuela. According to the National Union of Workers of the Press, three television channels were removed in the months up to August 2017.
Canal 24 Horas, a news channel owned by Chile's public broadcaster, Televisión Nacional, was removed from Venezuela's cable and satellite television operators by the state-run National Commission of Telecommunications (Conatel) on 24 January, during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis. Conatel removed 24 Horas once again during the 23 February conflicts in the Venezuelan frontier, no reason was given.
During the Venezuela Aid Live concert on 22 February, NatGeo and Antena 3 were removed from cable and satellite TV for broadcasting the concert. Access to YouTube was also blocked for CANTV users during the concert.
Internet censorship
In the Freedom on the Net 2014 report by Freedom House, Venezuela's internet was ranked as "partly free", with the report stating that social media, apps, political and social content had been blocked, while also noting that bloggers and Internet users had been arrested.
The Venezuelan government has been able to partially block internet access to citizens by using a system that allows them to restrict selected content that may threaten their power over the country. "In the 21st century, autocrats have devised specific techniques to put the internet under political control without shutting it down completely."Puyosa, I. (2019). Venezuela's 21st Century Authoritarianism in the Digital Sphere. Puyosa, Iria, Venezuela's 21st Century Authoritarianism in the Digital Sphere. Toda Peace Institute. Policy Brief, (62) By partially blocking the internet, the government has been able to perform a concealed censorship that often affects the opposition. The population knows that the government interferes with the internet and the communications, but they lack the means to access the evidence that would support their claims."Inside the Battle to Get News to Venezuelans" . Time. Retrieved 2020-02-20