Censorship and media control during the Venezuelan presidential crisis

There was censorship and media control during the Venezuelan presidential crisis between 2019 and January 2023.

A crisis concerning who was the legitimate president of Venezuela began on 10 January 2019, when the opposition-majority National Assembly declared that incumbent Nicolás Maduro's 2018 reelection was invalid and the body declared its president, Juan Guaidó, to be acting president of the nation. The process and results of the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election were widely disputed. The National Assembly declared Maduro illegitimate on the day of his second inauguration, citing the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela enacted under Hugo Chávez, Maduro's predecessor; in response, the pro-Maduro Supreme Tribunal of Justice said the National Assembly's declaration was unconstitutional.

Maduro's government stated that the crisis was a "coup d'état led by the United States to topple him and control the country's oil reserves". Guaidó denied the coup allegations, saying peaceful volunteers backed his movement.

Since the beginning of the presidential crisis, Venezuela was exposed to frequent "information blackouts", periods without access to internet or other news services during important political events. The National Assembly and Guaido's speeches were regularly disrupted, television channels and radio programs were censored and many journalists were illegally detained. The Venezuelan press workers union reported that in 2019 40 journalists had been illegally detained as of 12 March. As of June 2019, journalists were denied access to seven sessions of the National Assembly by the National Guard.

Most Venezuelan television channels are controlled by the state, and information unfavorable to the government is not covered completely. Newspapers and magazines are scarce, as most are unable to afford paper to print. The underfunded web infrastructure has led to slow Internet connection speeds.

The information blackouts have promoted the creation of underground news coverage that is usually broadcast through social media and instant message services like WhatsApp. The dependence of Venezuelans on social media has also promoted the spread of disinformation and pro-Maduro propaganda.

Venezuela got the rank 148 of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders in 2019. The country went down five places since 2018.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) made a call to the Maduro administration to reestablish television and radio channels that had been closed, cease on the restrictions to Internet access, and protect the rights of journalists.

In 2022, pro-government deputy admitted that the government blocked digital outlets.

Internet, television, and radio

2019 Several sources reported that starting 12 January 2019 until 18 January, internet access to Wikipedia (in all languages) was blocked in Venezuela after Guaidó's page on the Spanish Wikipedia was edited to show him as president. The block mainly affected the users of the state-run CANTV, the national telecommunications company and largest provider of the country. Several media outlets have suggested that Wikipedia directly or indirectly was taking sides with either group.* *

Later on 21 January, the day of a National Guard mutiny in Cotiza, internet access to some social media like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube was reported blocked for CANTV users. The Venezuelan government denied it had engaged in blocking.

During the 23 January protests, widespread internet outages for CANTV users were reported, with Wikipedia, Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media platforms affected. The widespread regional internet blackouts occurred again on 26 to 27 January.

Canal 24 Horas, a news channel owned by Chile's public broadcaster, TVN, was removed from Venezuela's cable and satellite television operators by the state-run National Commission of Telecommunications (Conatel) on 24 January. Conatel removed 24 Horas once again during the 23 February conflicts in the Venezuelan frontier, no reason was given.

Since 22 January, 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 Cesar Miguel Rondón'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 recognize Guaidó as acting president or interim president of Venezuela.* *

During the Venezuela Aid Live concert on 22 February, NatGeo and Antena 3 Internacional were removed from cable and satellite TV for broadcasting the concert. Access to YouTube was also blocked for CANTV users during the concert.

Without clear reason, Twitter was blocked for CANTV users on 27 February, and again on 4 March, with Guaido's return from his regional trip. The access to SoundCloud was also restricted all along between both dates. NetBlocks suspects that the first censorship on the 27th was related either to a SoundCloud recording published by Guaidó on Twitter or to a viral video showing several delegates leaving the UN Human Rights Council meeting during Jorge Arreaza speech. Soundcloud access was restricted during the following 3 months.

Without any official statement from Conatel, the German state owned TV channel, Deutsche Welle (DW) in Spanish, was blocked from Venezuelan cable networks from 14 to 15 April. Conatel had already censored the DW signal once before in 2018 during the broadcast of a documentary titled "Venezuela—Escape from a Failed State".

During the 2019 Venezuelan uprising of 30 April, Juan Guaidó led a group of civilian and military forces in an uprising against Nicolás Maduro. Shortly after the announcement, NetBlocks reported that multiple social media and news websites were censored by the state-run CANTV internet provider. Internet service was restored 20 minutes before a live speech of Nicolás Maduro. During the clashes, the signal of BBC World News and CNN was pulled off air from all cable providers ordered by Conatel. According to CNN, it was blocked one minute after its live feed showed government VN-4s running over protesters. Venezuela's oldest private local radio station Radio Caracas Radio (RCR) was also ordered off air. Broadcast issues and internet disruptions followed during the protests of 1 May.

The IACHR communication expressed that "freedom of expression applies to the Internet in the same way as it does to all communication media" and consider Internet restrictions as an "extreme measure-analogous to the prohibition of a newspaper or a radio or television station". The report emphasizes that "such blockades or restrictions cannot be justified, not even for reasons of public order or national security". The IACHR rapporteur also explained that the "adjudication, revocation, and renewal of licenses must be established by law and guided by objective, clear, impartial, and public criteria compatible with a democratic society; the process must be transparent; the decision that grants or denies the request must be duly motivated; and be subject to adequate judicial control".

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) South coordinator, Natalie Southwick, has criticized the recent situation in Venezuela: "We are alarmed by the increasingly brazen censorship in Venezuela, including the repeated and selective restriction of internet access, a popular tool of authoritarian regimes. Venezuelan authorities should ensure that all internet platforms and news outlets—digital, radio, and television—are available to citizens seeking to access and share information".

Edgar Zambrano vice-minister of the National Assembly and ally of Guaidó was detained by the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) on 8 May. During the three hours after his detention, NetBlocks reported disruption of YouTube and Google services for CANTV users.

In June, the Venezuelan news website La Patilla was charged with "moral charges" and a fine of 30 billion bolivars (about $5m dollars) after publishing an ABC News article about drug traffic in Venezuela, that implicated the president of the pro-Maduro 2017 Constituent National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello. The website director Alberto Federico Ravell, supporter of Juan Guaidó, wrote that Cabello was engaging in "judicial terrorism". Cabello also added that he will take control of the website if it was unable to pay. Cabello had previously tried to raise judicial processes against ABC and The Wall Street Journal for accusations of drug trafficking, but the cases were rejected. Nathalie Southwick (CPJ) considers that the measure against La Patilla is an "attempt to bankrupt and shut down a critical outlet" and provides an "example of how the Venezuelan judicial system is being used to retaliate against critical media".

Without any previous judiciary order, the access to online newspapers El Pitazo and Efecto Cocuyo, through national and private internet providers, was blocked during the visit of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) chief Michelle Bachelet to Venezuela in June.

2020 During the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela, the National Assembly created a webpage to provide information on the coronavirus disease to the public. The access to the site was restricted for CANTV users. The censorship was denounced by Guaidó.

On 1 April, the website AlbertoNews was indefinitely restricted after a coverage of (Operation Knock-Knock), a search and seizure operation by the Maduro administration.

Live speeches disrupted Live streams of the National Assembly sessions and Guaidó's speeches and appearances have been regularly disrupted for CANTV users since the end of January, mainly affecting access to streaming platforms like Periscope, Bing, Twitter video, and YouTube, along with some other Google services. DNS blocking is employed to generate the disruptions. The longest block of YouTube to date started during an Assembly session on 6 March, lasting 20 hours.

After the events of 23 February to ship of humanitarian aid to Venezuela, Guaidó and Colombian President Iván Duque's evening speech in Las Tienditas Bridge was similarly blocked for CANTV users in Venezuela. More disruptions recurred during the Lima Group session on the 24th and during the US Vice President Mike Pence's speech on 25 February.

Another disruption on 15 April, affecting only CANTV users, occurred during the live stream of the press conference about Venezuela's crisis of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Duque in Cúcuta.

Venezuelan politician Leopoldo López, detained during the 2014 protests and under house arrest by Maduro administration was released by pro-Guaidó military during the 30 April uprising. López and his family sought refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas. On 2 May, the disruption of internet services resumed during a press-conference where López spoke about his discussions with mid-military officers to oppose Maduro administration.