Censorship in Venezuela

Censorship in Venezuela refers to all actions which can be considered as suppression in speech in the country. Reporters Without Borders ranked Venezuela 137th out of 180 countries in its ''World Press Freedom Index 2015'' and classified Venezuela's freedom of information in the "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..."

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.

Resource drains and media buyouts

Both President Hugo Chávez and Mr. 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

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''.

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 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 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". 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
...