Censorship and media control during the Venezuelan presidential crisis

[5] 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.

[6][7] The National Assembly and Guaido's speeches were regularly disrupted, television channels and radio programs were censored and many journalists were illegally detained.

[6] The information blackouts have promoted the creation of underground news coverage that is usually broadcast through social media and instant message services like WhatsApp.

[20] 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.

[21][22] During the 23 January protests, widespread internet outages for CANTV users were reported, with Wikipedia,[23] Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media platforms affected.

[25][26] 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.

[28] 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.

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.

[35] 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.

Shortly after the announcement, NetBlocks reported that multiple social media and news websites were censored by the state-run CANTV internet provider.

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".

[46] 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.

[56] 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.

[54] 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.

[95] According to Efecto Cocuyo director, Luz Mely Reyes, "journalism is becoming 'very complicated' in Venezuela where power outages, patchy internet and threats of violence have made reporting increasingly difficult".

[96] Reyes told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in April that she is unsure that independent outlets like Efecto Cocuyo may "survive" in this economic and political situation.

[106][107] Jorge Ramos, who The Guardian described as "arguably the best-known journalist in the Spanish-speaking world", was detained along with his Univisión crew members during an interview with Maduro on 25 February.

[109] Telemundo journalist Daniel Garrido was detained for eight hours by SEBIN on 26 February and was later irregularly released on a side street in Caracas.

[112] During the 2019 Venezuelan blackouts, Venezuelan–Spanish journalist Luis Carlos Díaz was at his house when he was arrested by SEBIN forces, and taken along with his electronic equipment to El Helicoide.

[115] Gazeta Wyborcza Polish journalist, Tomasz Surdel, was briefly detained, threatened, and beaten, by police Special Actions Force (FAES) during the blackout, according to the Venezuelan press workers union.

[116] The newspaper's website said it had received complaints about his reporting on Maduro from the Venezuelan Embassy in Warsaw, and that he was not arrested but was viciously beaten and left by the side of the road.

[117] German journalist Billy Six, who was detained in El Helicoide since 17 November 2018 charged of espionage, rebellion and security violations, was allowed to leave Venezuela on 16 March.

[120] During the second wave of blackouts, Venezuelan journalist Danilo Alberto Gil was detained in Zulia on 30 March while covering the protests in Ciudad Ojeda.

[130] On 21 May, The Human Rights Watch[131] and the CPJ[132] called for the "immediate release" of the photojournalist Jesús Medina Ezaine held in Ramo Verde Prison.

[133][134] Medina was first detained in October 2017 alongside journalist Roberto di Matteo of Italy and Filippo Rossi of Switzerland while reporting at Tocorón penitentiary.

[131] "Venezuelan authorities should immediately drop the absurd charges against Jesús Medina and stop finding pretexts to prolong his pretrial detention", said CPJ coordinator Nathalie Southwick.

[146][147] Security forces from the Venezuelan military counterintelligence (DGCIM) entered Entorno Digital, a press office, on 19 November afternoon and detained its employees.

Venepress news editor, Israel Barbuzano, suspects that the closures are part of an offensive against Telecaribe president who has supported Juan Guaidó in opinion columns.

[150] State communications service CANTV reportedly blocked access to social media sites Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube on the day of the election.

[152][153] Punto de Corte journalists Johan Álvarez and Alexandra Villán did an undercover report about CANTV, a major state owned telecommunication company, where they were able to infiltrate the main headquarters in Caracas with help of workers and showed several problems, including malfunctioning equipment and, as well as the lack of required air conditioning, which causes many problems experienced by users.