Politics Venezuela: Maduro orders ten-day closure of Platform X
Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the blocking of Platform X 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. He therefore ordered the telecommunications authority Conatel to block X for ten days. He did not specify when this measure would come into force.
09.08.2024, 07:55
SDA
On Monday, Maduro had already called for the WhatsApp messenger service to be uninstalled, as it was being used "to threaten Venezuela". On Sunday, he also called for recommendations from experts on the regulation of social networks such as Instagram and TikTok. According to Maduro, these platforms were being used to stir up hatred during spontaneous protests against his government.
Over the past few days, numerous people in Venezuela have demonstrated against what they believe to be a rigged election. The state authorities cracked down. According to the human rights organizations Provea and Human Rights Watch, 24 people have died and hundreds have been arrested.
The anti-government 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 no longer follow the instructions of the incumbent government. The public prosecutor's office then launched an investigation into the two.
After the election on July 28, the electoral authority CNE, which is loyal to the government, officially declared President Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner. However, it has not yet published a breakdown of the results for the individual constituencies. The opposition accuses the government of electoral fraud and is claiming victory for its candidate González.
Brazil, Colombia and Mexico as mediators
The USA and a number of Latin American countries have already recognized the ex-diplomat as the winner of the election. The European Union, the Organization of American States and numerous other countries in the region 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. In a joint statement, the left-wing governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, to whom Machado ascribes an important mediating role, demanded the publication of the results of all polling stations by the CNE and not by the Supreme Court.
