Venezuela Frees Journalists but Keeps Closing Radios

Venezuela is sending two contradictory signals about press freedom at the same time. The government of interim president Delcy Rodríguez, under sustained pressure from Washington, has released all imprisoned journalists and passed an amnesty law covering political detainees. But at the regional level, the telecommunications regulator Conatel continues to shut down radio stations, confiscate their broadcasting equipment, and leave their workers jobless — all without public explanation.

At least eight radio stations have been silenced so far in 2026, according to the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP). Among them are Unika 92.1 FM in Caracas, Impacto 105.3 FM in La Fría near the Colombian border, and Rítmica 104.1 FM in the coastal city of Puerto Cabello. An average of 25 people lost their jobs at each station. In every case, Conatel seized all broadcasting equipment.

A Long Pattern of Silence

The closures are not new, but they continue despite the political opening. Espacio Público recorded 16 radio stations shut down in 2023, 21 in 2024, and seven in 2025. IPYS estimated that in 2022 alone, 95 regional stations were closed. The strategy relies on allowing broadcasting concessions to expire, refusing to renew them, and seizing equipment — without transparency or due process.

A spokesperson for Espacio Público said the government made a deliberate effort to control public opinion before the 2024 election, with many stations nationalized or transferred to allies. The organization has documented 62 news portals that remain blocked.

Prisoners Out, Restrictions Still In

The positive side of the ledger is real but incomplete. Venezuela had up to 24 journalists behind bars in recent months — the highest figure in Latin America. All have now been released, according to the SNTP. The press workers’ union is also meeting with the legislative commission overseeing the amnesty law to review the cases of 40 journalists and media workers still facing legal proceedings, substitute measures, or passport cancellations.

The amnesty, combined with the release of hundreds of political prisoners, is part of what the Rodríguez government calls “national pacification.” Human Rights Watch warned in February that the releases do not address the repressive apparatus that enabled the detentions, and called for structural reform of judicial and electoral institutions.

A Cautious Media Thaw

Some of Venezuela’s larger media outlets are testing the boundaries. Radio host Shirley Varnagy returned to the morning slot on the Unión Radio circuit after being pulled off the air for three months for mentioning María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize. National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez gave a prominent interview to independent journalist Luis Olavarrieta in which he acknowledged past excesses and said it was “fundamental” to allow journalism to function “without fear of reprisal.”

The most striking shift came from Venevisión, one of Latin America‘s historic television networks, owned by the Cisneros family. After two decades of self-censored, regime-friendly coverage, its president Andrés Badra used the channel’s 65th anniversary to deliver a public call for democracy and “reinstitutionalization,” language that would have been unthinkable from the network in recent memory. He acknowledged that Venezuela had lived through “very dark, difficult years” under chavismo.

Reform or Performance

The gap between the government’s rhetoric and its actions on the ground remains wide. Journalists inside Venezuela told the Miami Herald they remain nervous, describing a “state of total uncertainty” in which the absence of repression at any given moment does not equal safety. As long as Conatel continues closing stations while the government talks about openness, the transition will look less like genuine reform and more like a selective performance calibrated for Washington’s benefit.

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