Censorship in Venezuela: the Maduro regime closed another radio

The National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela informed that The radio station La Mega Hertz 96.5 FM, in the State of Apure, was closed by the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), the chavist entity that supports telecommunications in Venezuela.

According to the details EL National, Conatel agents broke into the studios belonging to opposition MP Luis Lippa and removed him from the air.

That of The Mega Hertz 96.5 FM This is not an isolated case. According to data from the Venezuelan Institute of Press and Society (Ipys) of Tuesday, April 30, day of the launch of "Operation Libertad", called Guaidó and opposition Leopoldo López, 19 cases of violation of freedom of expression digital rights in Venezuela. On that day, Conatel ordered the suspension of Radio Caracas Radio (RCR) broadcasts and CNN broadcasts in English and on the BBC. In addition, Infobae, CNN en Español and NTN24 of Colombia remain censored by the regime.

Aware of the abuses of the freedom of the press, the Inter-American Press Association (SIP) demanded that "the right of Venezuelans to be informed" be guaranteed and respected and stressed that the media, "despite the many risks, maintain the responsibility to continue to cover information" in Venezuela.

Colombia's María Elvira Domínguez, president of SIP, has echoed denunciations of censorship and repression against journalists, digital platforms, traditional media and other forms of communication. And he accused the "Nicolás Maduro regime" of the consequences of the attacks "against journalists, the media and citizens exercising their right to demonstrate".

In addition, the SIP indicated that users of Cantv, Movistar and Digitel had difficulties Tuesday to access Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Periscope, YouTube and Google.

In a country where critical newspapers and television have been deafened, social media is almost the only way to spread information and the regime knows it. In fact, it's been years since it impedes Internet access by manipulating the main provider (the CANTV public company), which accounts for 70% of fixed internet connections in Venezuela and 50% of mobile connections.

NetBlocks, a non-governmental organization dedicated to cybersecurity issues, also denounced interruptions in the WhatsApp and Telegram applications, operated by the public company Cantv and its ABA broadband service.