After quakes, Venezuela must unblock social media access, say UN experts

GENEVA: Venezuela must “immediately” unblock access to social media and news outlets, amid a “life and death” scramble for information after powerful twin earthquakes killed at least 32 people, UN experts said Thursday.

The earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck the same area of Venezuela Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings in the capital to crumble and forcing the closure of the country’s main airport.

“For a country already facing enormous challenges, this is a devastating blow,” said a statement from the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.

They urged authorities to allow human rights to “guide all aspects of the national and international response to this immense tragedy.

“As a critical first step, it is vital that CONATEL, the country’s telecommunications regulator, fully unblock access to social media and all media outlets,” they added.

The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN, said that in the aftermath of the quakes, such access would “be a matter of life and death”.

They added: “There can be no excuse for failing to do so immediately.”

Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Venezuela in 159th place out of 180 countries in terms of media freedom, said the government had closed numerous media outlets and blocked online news content.

“After years of repression and strict control over information under Nicolas Maduro’s government, restrictions on the press and access to information were further exacerbated following the United States’s illegal military intervention in 2026,” RSF said on its website.

“The country has been plunged into deep uncertainty surrounding the protection of press freedom, despite the release of detained journalists in early 2026,” it added.

Venezuela Sin Filtro, an NGO focused on documenting censorship, says there are currently more than 200 internet domains blocked by the country’s main service providers.