Venezuela unblocks 16 sites, keeps 188 censored
Censorship blocking · 18.09.2026

Venezuela's Conatel solemnly announced: the sites have been unblocked. Technically, this is called a "technical notice on domain unblocking" — a phrase so bureaucratic it practically begs to be censored itself. The order came from Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, but as for how many portals were opened and which ones — the agency modestly kept quiet. Transparency at its finest.

So people had to count for themselves. The NGO Conexión Segura y Libre, through its VE sin Filtro project, recorded 16 unblocked domains as of Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, 188 remain blocked — 79 of them news portals. In other words, less than a tenth of what was shut down has been reopened. If this is a goodwill gesture, it's a remarkably stingy one.

The opposition's reaction is restrained. Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation in talks with the government, called it merely a "first step" and demanded that all media be made accessible without restrictions and on a permanent basis — not just until the next technical notice.

Sofía Macher, head of the UN commission investigating human rights violations in Venezuela, pours cold water on the celebration: unblocking a few media outlets doesn't mean lifting all restrictions on press work. According to her, "not all the channels that should have been unblocked have been unblocked." She specifically pointed to the repressive legal framework and the arrests of journalists.

The commission led by Macher had already noted in an earlier report that, despite some minor easing, Venezuela's repressive apparatus continues to function smoothly. Against that backdrop, 16 unblocked domains look less like a victory for free speech and more like a gesture — symbolic, selective, and easily reversible.

Source: https://www.heise.de/news/Venezuela-Kritische-Portale-sollen-wieder-zugaenglich-sein-11458651.html