Maduro blasts Twitter censorship

VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro slammed Twitter for blocking 180 accounts linked to Venezuelan governmental institutions and revolutionary activists. He said on Saturday the decision showed the Bolivarian Revolution had spoken the truth on the platform.

Ernesto Villegas, the Venezuelan minister of communication and information, wrote on social media the @MIRAFLORES_TV account was suspended after re-tweeting replies from Maduro concerning belligerent statements made by US vice-president Mike Pence.

Villegas argued the arbitrary mass account suspensions, including the accounts of Radio Nacional de Venezuela, Radio Miraflores and others, amounted to an “ethnic cleansing” of former President Hugo Chavez’s revolutionary message.

Prensa Latina reported no notification was given prior to the accounts being deactivated and Twitter had attempted to present the Venezuelan government as being the author of violence and repression directed at opposition demonstrators.

Villegas alleged a master plan of fomenting disinformation aimed at provoking an extreme response from government allies and Bolivarian revolutionaries to justify a coup, as had happened in April 2002. teleSUR