Brutal advance of the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro against the media in Venezuela

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The National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela (SNTP) denounced this Friday that some 13 officials of the Nicolás Maduro regime among workers of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) and the National Integrated Service of Customs and Tax Administration (Seniat) They entered two offices of the independent media outlet Venezolanos Por la Información (VPItv) in Caracas and took transmission equipment, cameras and computers. As revealed by the SNTP through social networks, the agents entered the television channel's studios located in the La Florida and Los Dos Caminos urbanizations without prior notice, asking for information on providers, publication mechanisms, operations and accounting books. The call is to be attentive to what may be a new attempt to silence the media warned the union before the surprise operation of these state entities on VPItv which also denounced the action through its official Twitter account. A press release from VPItv provided more details of the ongoing procedure, without presenting a written order, they are inspecting the facilities, questioning the personnel requesting documents and operational and administrative information. They even requested passwords for the transmission processes and also reviewed emails related to VPITV's operation. Officials are carrying out an inventory to seize transmission equipment, cameras, computers, among other work implements, essential for the realization of journalistic reports . This represents an evident act of censorship that prevents the continuity of our operations and the exercise of freedom of the press in Venezuela. This maneuver against VPItv, which remains active, takes place on the same day that a headquarters of the newspaper Panorama in Maracaibo was closed. Seniat closed the PANORAMA headquarters ESTABLISHMENT in Maracaibo for 5 days, after a commission from the entity visited this Editorial House. According to the prosecutors, the measure is based on non-compliance with formal duties of the tax laws, said a statement from the newspaper published by social networks. Apart from the unprecedented sanction to this Editorial House, there is the role that as a medium we are called to fulfill with responsibility before the covid-19 and quarantine to inform the community in a precise way, as demanded by the UN, about prevention and biosecurity measures to keep the health of the population safe. Furthermore, in what appears to be a new campaign by the regime against dissenting voices, The Chavista television channel Globovisión published this Friday an extensive article pointing out to the independent media Efecto Cocuyo, Caraota Digital and El Pitazo of being financed to overthrow the Maduro government. And around 5:00 pm, Caracas time, The renowned news portal Tal Cual reported from Twitter that he was the victim of a hacker attack."#Attention. Our website is under digital attack. That is why access complications are experienced. We are working to solve the problem and overcome this new attack on freedom of expression. For now, we will continue to report via social networks, wrote the direction of the medium founded by journalist Teodoro Petkoff. Furthermore, in Venezuela journalists and the media survive in an ecosystem dominated by terror, where self-censorship is a common defense mechanism. Here there is the Law of Responsibility in Radio and Television (Resorte) that establishes responsibilities for intermediaries. That means that the journalist has to correct the interviewee, so the radio stations that report relatively have to do so under very strong pressure. There is a progressive censorship, when they call you for an interview they warn you of the things that you cannot say, there are even people who cannot be mentioned directly in the media he told Infobae Carlos Correa, president of Espacio Público, the NGO that promotes freedom of expression, the right to information and social responsibility in the media. In 2017, Maduro added another method of censorship: the law against hate. Approved unanimously by the Constituent Assembly erected to take power away from the National Assembly with an opposition majority, the norm establishes penalties of up to 20 years in prison and other sanctions such as fines for companies and electronic media, banning of political parties and closing of the media. to those who spread hateful messages. According to Maduro, the purpose of the law is the reunion, reunification and peace of all Venezuelans. However, the NGO Espacio Público assures that it is a legal tool that seeks to silence and punish opinions that are uncomfortable for the State.