Venezuela Unblocks Censored News Sites as Political Talks Resume
Golden Page News | September 18, 2026
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela has begun restoring access to a number of news websites that had been blocked for years, a move announced by the country’s telecommunications regulator as government and opposition representatives prepared to resume U.S.-backed political talks focused in part on civil and political rights and freedom of expression.
The National Telecommunications Commission, known as CONATEL, announced that internet providers had received instructions to restore access to a group of Venezuelan and international digital media outlets. The announcement came on September 17, just as a second round of political negotiations was getting underway in Caracas.
Digital-rights organization VE Sin Filtro independently verified that access to 17 news websites had been restored through several internet providers.
However, the group said the change represents only a partial lifting of Venezuela’s longstanding internet censorship system. Its monitoring showed that at least 188 websites remained blocked, including dozens of news outlets.
The move is being closely watched by journalists, civil-society organizations and opposition representatives, who have for years demanded that restrictions on independent media websites be removed.
A Partial Opening of Venezuela’s Digital Space
CONATEL described the measure as the “formal restoration of access” to various national and international digital platforms and media outlets.
Among the websites reported as having been restored are Venezuelan outlets including El Pitazo, Efecto Cocuyo, Runrunes, Crónica Uno, Caraota Digital, El Estímulo, Monitoreamos and AlbertoNews, as well as Spain’s EFE news agency and Colombia’s Semana magazine. Reporting by El País said CONATEL initially identified 10 outlets in its notification, while independent monitoring subsequently found access restored to a larger group across different internet providers.
Access has not necessarily been uniform.
VE Sin Filtro’s monitoring system checks multiple internet providers, including CANTV, Movistar, Digitel, Inter and NetUno. The organization says a website can be considered blocked when technical measurements consistently demonstrate interference with access and other explanations, such as an ordinary technical failure, can be ruled out.
Some media organizations also reported intermittent access after their sites appeared to have been unblocked, underscoring that the process remains incomplete.
Nearly 200 Websites Still Inaccessible
The restoration of access has not ended Venezuela’s broader system of digital restrictions.
VE Sin Filtro’s latest monitoring database lists 202 blocked domains, including 92 domains classified as news-related. The organization distinguishes between domains and individual news sites, which helps explain why figures can differ between reports.
AFP, citing VE Sin Filtro’s verification of the latest changes, reported that at least 188 websites remained blocked, including 79 news outlets.
That distinction is important because the number of affected domains does not necessarily equal the number of individual media organizations. Some news organizations have operated multiple domains or alternative websites after their primary addresses were blocked.
The history of the restrictions is extensive. VE Sin Filtro has documented internet censorship in Venezuela for more than a decade, including DNS, HTTP/HTTPS and IP-level blocking. Its research says restrictions expanded significantly during the political and electoral crises of recent years.
During the 2024 presidential-election period and the months surrounding it, VE Sin Filtro documented a particularly intense wave of digital restrictions, including blocks affecting independent media, civil-society organizations, human-rights websites and tools used to circumvent censorship.
Unblocking Comes as Political Talks Resume. The timing of the decision has drawn particular attention.
The website restrictions were eased as Venezuela’s interim government and sections of the opposition prepared for another round of political negotiations backed by the United States. Freedom of expression and political rights are among the issues being discussed.
El País reported that the negotiations were expected to address political and constitutional rights as well as laws that civil-society groups and journalists have criticized as restrictive of freedom of expression.
The decision followed a recommendation from Venezuela’s Program for Peace and Democratic Coexistence, which called for the lifting of restrictions on news websites. EFE reported that the technical process began after the recommendation was made to interim President Delcy Rodríguez.
Opposition negotiator Dinorah Figuera welcomed the move but described it as only a beginning, saying that many other media outlets remained inaccessible. Journalists Remain Cautious. For Venezuelan journalists who spent years operating behind digital barriers, the restoration of access represents a significant change, but there is skepticism about whether the process will extend to all blocked outlets.
Luis Ernesto Blanco, editorial director of the previously blocked news outlet Runrunes, told AFP that the restrictions had been imposed without the type of administrative or judicial orders that would normally provide a transparent legal basis for such a measure.
Victor Amaya, whose news outlet TalCual was blocked in 2024, also expressed uncertainty about whether the current measure would eventually cover every censored website. He told AFP that his organization had lost a substantial portion of its web traffic and advertising revenue after the block was imposed.
For independent news organizations, the consequences of years of blocking have extended beyond readers being unable to visit a website. Reduced traffic can affect advertising, subscriptions, audience growth and the financial sustainability of newsrooms.
A Long-Running Fight Over Internet Freedom
Digital censorship in Venezuela did not begin with the current political crisis.
VE Sin Filtro’s historical research traces internet restrictions back more than a decade, with news websites and other platforms increasingly targeted as political tensions intensified. The organization has documented both long-term blocks and shorter “tactical” restrictions imposed around politically sensitive events.
The organization says blocks have been implemented through internet service providers following directions associated with CONATEL. Its monitoring has documented different technical methods, including manipulation of DNS responses, HTTP/HTTPS interference and blocking connections to server IP addresses.
In September, Venezuelan media organizations, journalists and civil-society groups also issued a Manifesto for Freedom of Expression, calling for the removal of digital blocks and broader changes to the legal and institutional framework governing the country’s media environment. The manifesto was backed by dozens of media organizations and civil-society groups.
The central question now is whether the latest unblocking represents the beginning of a broader restoration of access or a limited, selective measure.
The initial restoration has allowed Venezuelans using some internet providers to reach news organizations that had been inaccessible for years. But the continued presence of hundreds of blocked domains means that access to independent information remains restricted.
The technical evidence is also evolving. VE Sin Filtro says it is continuing to monitor the affected websites and internet providers and will update its database as additional changes are verified. For Venezuela’s journalists and readers, the difference between a temporary technical opening and a permanent restoration of access could be substantial.
After years in which independent news websites were often accessible only through virtual private networks and other circumvention tools, the latest development has reopened part of the country’s digital information space.
But with dozens of news outlets still blocked, the broader question of internet freedom in Venezuela remains unresolved.
