Movistar, operator in Venezuela of the Spanish multinational Telefónica, violates freedom of expression by keeping blocked, without legal support, web pages of national and international media outlets that oppose and confront the government of Nicolás Maduro.
“It is carrying out a blocking operation that has no legal backing and that is violating freedom of expression, which is a basic human right that all European companies must comply with,” denounced Miguel Henrique Otero, editor-in-chief of The National.
He explained that, in order for the company to restrict access to a page with a .com domain, a judicial process must take place in the country where it is registered. In the case of The National in the United States, where a federal judge must evaluate the case and decide whether or not to proceed with the blockade.
Otero affirmed that there are no reasons to block the pages beyond an order issued by the government of Nicolas Maduro to Telefónica and the state-owned company Cantv. “It is absolutely irregular because they are international pages and the only way to block them is with a federal judge where they are hosted,” he emphasized.
Obligated providers
Gaby Castellanos, an expert in , communication and digital marketing, explained to The National Internet service providers do filtering to block web page server IP addresses, URLs, or DNS.
“In many countries, and by local decision, Internet Service Providers are required by their government to regularly filter and censor the Internet. This leads users to have to use VPN applications to be able to bypass the blocks and access to free information, which is and should be a right on the internet,” he said.
“Threatened by the government”
Journalist Alberto Federico Ravell, director of La Patilla, another of the digital media affected by the blockade, stated that both internet and telephone operators «are threatened by the government.
“First time I see an international operator the government gives you guidelines and tells you which page you can access and which page no. It is a serious, sensitive issue that a foreign company has to comply with government regulations to censor web pages, “he said.
He stressed that there are media outlets that act freely, such as The NationalLa Patilla, El Pitazo and Cocuyo Effect, among others, who prefer to suffer the consequences of the blockade, the interference and the loss of their visits rather than “pay homage to a dictatorial government” that follows the guidelines of the Cuban regime.
«The media are doing everything to evade this blockade, there are possibilities to evade it. But (since the Chavista regime) they have managed to lower traffic and minimize some pages to the maximum. One day this will be well investigated and we will know who does it, how they do it and where they do it from. Although it is not difficult to know that this is done from the white palace and from Conatel, “added Ravell.
«That might not be done in Spain, in the first place. They have a shotgun mounted on the heads of the operators in Venezuela. They are in three and two. It’s something that executives from Internet companies and telephone companies have told me. ‘Look, they threaten us that if we don’t block them they’ll close us down’. How many people are going to be willing to risk and fight for Venezuela if they are not involved in what happens daily in the country? », He stated.
Four blocks to El Pitazo
Since 2017, El Pitazo has suffered four blockades, indicated its director César Batiz. The first occurred on September 18, 2017 with the .com domain by ABA de Cantv and Digitel. Then, on November 1 of that same year, one day following Conatel approved an increase in telephone rates, Movistar proceeded to restrict access to that web address.
“Later we switched to elpitazo.info. We were working without blocking and, at the same time, we had elpitazo.com, until March or April 2018. They blocked elpitazo.info and we opened elpitazo.ml. On August 1, 2018, elpitazo.ml was blocked. It should be noted that when they blocked elpitazo.info and when they blocked elpitazo.ml, the three operators did so: ABA de Cantv, Digitel and Movistar. In 2019, in March or April, elpitazo.net, which is our current domain, was blocked,” Batiz said.
After that blockade, the El Pitazo team went personally to the headquarters of Movistar and Digitel to request explanations regarding the reasons why those companies blocked access to their website, but they never received answers. “Conatel has not given us an answer either. To date we do not know what the reasons are », he assured.
Movistar, “a partner in censorship”
Batiz stated that, according to the information they handle, the telephone or technology companies, and in the specific case of Movistar of Telefónica de España, respond to a requirement of the National Telecommunications Commission of Venezuela.
«It must be said with all the letters: gentlemen of Telefónica de España and Digitel, you are being co-participants of the censorship. As much as they say that they do not want to close the company and that so many businesses are lost in Venezuela, they are being co-participants in the censorship. A transnational company like Telefónica de España should honor its business code and the country of origin, with an imperfect democracy, but democracy nonetheless, where freedom of expression is respected. But in Venezuela they surrender at the feet of the communicational hegemony by becoming co-participants in censorship through the blocking of the media », he stated.
The director of La Patilla added that the blocking of the pages in Venezuela depends on the people who are in charge of the transnationals and do not dare to take risks.
“If I were working in a transnational company in Venezuela and they sent me to censor the media, I would resign and leave. I also believe that this warrants investigations in Spain, in the countries of origin of those transnationals that are in the country. Many people complain that the sanctions are harmful, but the sanctions have curbed the greed, the aggressiveness of the government. Although they have not eliminated it, they think twice before committing an outrage », he expressed.
Itching in Diosdado Hair
Blocking the page The National It was executed on February 11, from public and private operators, a few days following Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, made a public threat once morest this newspaper.
In the official it generated a sting a review published on the judge Lisbeth Amoroso Hidrobo, who is in charge of the Third Civil, Mercantile, Transit and Banking Court of First Instance of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, who ordered on January 27 the irregular and clandestine judicial auction of the newspaper building.
«It causes me to go through the page, because you owe me. With the value of El Nacional you didn’t pay me. I think now I’m going down the page,” warned Cabello during his program. With the mallet givingbroadcast by the Chavista Venezolana de Televisión channel, in a message addressed to Otero.
Adjudication full of irregularities
The National had denounced that the judge, sister of the Chavista Comptroller General Elvis Amoroso Hidrobo, directly awarded its headquarters and the plots of land on which it is built to Cabello. This happened without publishing, as appropriate, the auction posters in which the day, time and minimum amount must be informed for the interested parties to make their offers.
The process it was done behind the back of El Nacional and his judicial representative, and without the presence of any witness, only the plaintiff’s attorney, Alejandro Castillo Soto.
Diosdado dictates guidelines. And when he threatens days from his program, things happen. It’s a television order. the chase to The National has been relentless. They took away the headquarters, the printers do not dare to publish the newspaper, they do not dare to work for The National. Every day there are fewer newspapers and those that remain, the vast majority, because they are not all, are newspapers that are complacent with the government. It is a hard fight that we are giving. They try to block us and we go out the other way, they look for the formulas, which we are not going to explain. But it is possible to partially overcome the blockade depending on the mood and how the official who is in charge of lowering the switch at Conatel gets up that day,” Ravell said.
Investigation dismissed
Between 2018 and 2019, the directors of El Pitazo filed a complaint with the Public Ministry for the violation of the right to information of its users, the right to expression of its journalists and the right to work of those who work in the digital medium.
“We filed the complaint, they sealed it and signed it, but they refused to open any investigation. They said that there were not the necessary arguments to open an investigation on these issues, which shows, without a doubt, how it is part of a communication strategy in which the technology companies are complicit”, emphasized Batiz.
Ravell has denounced the blockade of La Patilla before the Inter-American Press Association, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Organization of American States and other international organizations. But the solution, what would put an end to the abuses committed in the country, he said, is a change of government In Venezuela.
