Politics/News
Digital Blockade Against El Nacional Escalates to 78% Inaccessibility
The web veto on the outlet rose 12 percentage points in the first five days of October, according to measurements by Espacio Público and OONI that also show high restriction levels on other news sites.
According to the source consulted, the digital blockade against El Nacional intensified in the first days of October 2026, reaching 78% inaccessibility, a 12-percentage-point increase from the start of the month.
Measurements attributed to Espacio Público and OONI reported the following inaccessibility levels on October 5: El Nacional at 78%, vendata.org at 91%, La Patilla at 89%, VPItv at 88%, Armando.info and Infobae at 86%, NTN24 at 84%, EVTV and Yadio.io at 79%, and AirTM between 93% and 95%. There were 47 sites unblocked, 40 blocked and 3 with anomalies.
Conatel ordered the unblocking of 34 platforms in September, a measure that benefited only 6% of more than 200 affected domains. Web blocks in Venezuela have been applied systematically since 2017, although cases date back to 2014. El Nacional has faced restrictions since June 2017 via Cantv and since February 2022 after its headquarters were handed over to Diosdado Cabello.
The data come from the consulted source, which cites Espacio Público and OONI as the origin of the technical measurements. No independent reports were identified confirming the exact October figures or the precise count of blocked and unblocked sites.
El Nacional, the Venezuelan outlet affected by the restrictions since 2017, continues to operate under blocks that limit its web access. Conatel, the telecommunications regulator, issued selective unblocking orders in September without reversing most limitations. Espacio Público and OONI supplied the cited technical records on network interference.
