THE CABLE DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN DW TV PROGRAMS WAS CANCELLED BY THE VENEZUELAN REGIME
With the cancellation of DW’s signal, there are already at least 14 international channels that have been taken off the air in Venezuela from subscription TV systems.
The case of the German media Deutsche Welle (DW) was presented this Monday, March 4, 2024. The Venezuelan government took the programming off the air after a report was published that talked about corruption in Maduro’s regime and its links with organized crime.
It is a video broadcast by the social networks of @dw_espanol in which reference is made to the 2023 Transaprencia Internacional report, which places Venezuela as the second most corrupt country in the world, after Somalia. Venezuela is followed by Syria, South Sudan and Yemen.
The report echoes information published by the organization Insight Crime on the Cartel of the Suns. About this, the report says that “high-ranking politicians participate in the Cartel of the Suns, a criminal network composed mainly of Venezuelan military personnel.” “They traffic cocaine, illegally mined gold and extort. Those involved have made a lot of money,” the German network said in its social networks.
It adds: “The Cartel of the Suns has the support of mayors and governors in key drug trafficking regions. It is not known if Maduro plays an active role, but the judiciary is involved in the machinery and tends to be permissive with the president’s executive”.
The government’s reaction did not take long. On Monday, Freddy Ñáñez, Venezuela’s Minister of Communication, described DW’s publication as a “fake”. He denounced the German news agency for defaming and spreading hatred against Venezuela.
In addition, President Nicolás Maduro said that DW was a “Nazi station”.
On the same Monday, Venezuelan journalists made it known that DW TV programming had been removed from the cable operators’ programming grid.
On Tuesday, however, DW’s general director, Peter Limbourg, called for the reestablishment of the TV signal and condemned what he described as an attack on freedom of the press.
On its website, DW published Limbourg’s statements, who said: “We vehemently call on the Venezuelan government to reestablish as soon as possible the distribution of the DW TV channel in Spanish. The cancellation of DW’s distribution is a severe attack on the freedom of people in Venezuela to inform themselves independently.”
“Millions of people have fled Venezuela during the Maduro regime. There is virtually no freedom of the press. That he reacts with absurd comparisons to a criticism supported by facts, is something that goes with this profile. Defamation, censorship, internet blockades and the propagation of false information about DW and its news work is something we are facing in a growing number of countries. We will continue to do everything in our power to reach out to people living under authoritarian regimes,” Limbourg continued.
DW’s content can still be viewed on its website (dw.com) and on its social networks. The Livestream is available through DW Español Youtube.
The Venezuelan National Union of Press Workers reported that with the removal of DW Español from the air, at least 14 international media outlets have now been taken off the air by subscription television providers.
In 2010, TV Chile, América Network (Mexico), Ritmo Son (Mexico), Momentum (Mexico) and América TV (Peru) were taken off the air. In 2014 it was the turn of NTN24 (Colombia). In 2017 there were new cancellations: Caracol Televisión (Colombia), RCN (Colombia), CNN (USA), El Tiempo (Colombia), Todo Noticias (Argentina) and TV Azteca (Mexico). In 2019, 24 Horas TVN (Chile) had the same fate. And now, DW, from Germany, which had already suffered a similar episode in 2019.
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