PressSplit
The presidential election was marked by allegations of fraud. Such reports are undesirable for Maduro’s authoritarian regime. Now he is targeting Platform X.
Caracas – Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the blocking of the X platform in the South American country for a period of ten days. “Twitter, now known as X, has incited hatred, fascism, civil war, death and confrontation among Venezuelans,” Maduro said in a speech. That is why he has instructed the telecommunications authority Conatel to block X for ten days. He left open when this measure would come into force.
After Venezuelan election: Maduro also takes action against WhatsApp
On Monday, Maduro had already called for the WhatsApp messaging service to be uninstalled because it was being used “to threaten Venezuela.” On Sunday, he also called for recommendations from experts on how to regulate social networks such as Instagram and TikTok. According to Maduro, these platforms were used to stir up hatred during spontaneous protests against his government.
In recent days, numerous people in Venezuela have demonstrated against what they believe to be rigged elections. The state cracked down hard. According to the human rights organizations Provea and Human Rights Watch, 24 people were killed and hundreds were arrested.
In Venezuela, X is to be shut down for ten days. © IMAGO/Andre M. Chang
The government-critical presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, together with opposition leader María Corina Machado, had called on the security forces in an open letter to side with the people and stop following the orders of the current government. The Attorney General’s Office then launched an investigation against the two.
Electoral authority in Venezuela under control of Maduro
After the election on July 28, the party-line electoral authority CNE officially declared the authoritarian President Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner. However, it has not yet published the detailed results for the individual voting districts. The opposition accuses the government of electoral fraud and claims victory for its candidate González.
Brazil, Colombia and Mexico as mediators
The USA and a number of Latin American countries have already recognized the former diplomat as the election winner. The European Union, the Organization of American States and numerous other countries in the region have at least expressed clear doubts about the official election results and demanded the publication of the detailed results lists.
The CNE recently submitted the detailed election results to the Supreme Court. The left-wing governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, to whom Machado assigns an important mediating role, have issued a joint statement demanding that the results of all polling stations be published by the CNE and not by the Supreme Court.
Türkiye and Venezuela declare war on internet companies
The Turkish government had previously taken similar measures. After blocking Instagram on August 2, the gaming platform Roblox was also blocked in Turkey. Now a blocking of TikTok is also under discussion. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously spoken of “digital fascism”. Ankara also wants to protect children with such measures.
