The Syndicate of Journalists said Venezuela closed 15 radio stations this week

Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) this week ordered the closure of 15 radio stations operating in the country’s three border states, according to a report from the National Federation of Press Workers, updated Saturday.

The union said in a message on Twitter that it criticized the measure and described it as “arbitrary.”

With these closures, according to the organization, 70% of broadcasters in the city of Rubio are prevented from broadcasting and “the guarantees for the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information are more fragile.”

“We demand fair terms and procedures for obtaining privileges and qualifications,” the letter added. On Friday, the union reported the closure of six other stations in Zulia state, also on the border with Colombia, a fact that happened “in less than 24 hours”.

“There are already 15 stations suspended in Zulia between September and October,” SNTP recalls. In addition, the group of press workers reported, last Tuesday, that Conatel closed a radio station in the state of Sucre, located in front of the Caribbean Sea.

Between September and October, SNTP documented the closure of eight stations in that coastal area. Last week, the National College of Journalists (CNP) denounced the closure of 46 radio stations in seven states in the country, which the Communications Regulatory Authority has shut down in the past four months.

CNP’s Secretary General, Delvalle Canelón, explained to EFE that these closures have been implemented since last July by Conatel, which not only orders stations to stop being online, but also “seizes transmission equipment” of these platforms, a measure that is described as “theft”. “.