Bolivia removes teleSUR and RT from state TV and entities denounce censorship

The Bolivian government removed, last Saturday (15), from the services of the National Telecommunications Company (Entel) the signals of the international channels teleSUR, based in Venezuela, and Russia Today (RT), Russia’s state broadcaster, in a decision that the country’s journalistic entities classified as censorship and an attack on freedom of expression, as it restricted the population’s access to multiple sources of information.

The announcement of the withdrawal was made by Entel on Thursday (15), through a statement aimed at users and the general public.

In the text, the state-owned company informed that the channels would no longer be part of its fiber optic television (IPTV), satellite television (DTH) and Entel TV Smart application services, citing “administrative reasons” for the decision.

The notification, however, did not present technical, contractual or regulatory clarifications that detailed the basis of the measure. It was limited to informing the exclusion of channels without indicating objective criteria, decision-making bodies or any additional justification for the removal.

To date, the state-owned company has not released new public explanations nor responded to questions raised by journalistic entities and communication organizations that challenged the decision.

Commenting on Entel’s decision, the president of teleSUR, Patricia Villegas, stated that the channel’s removal from the Bolivian grid is “as predictable as it is reprehensible” and maintained that there are no real justifications for the measure.

In a post on social media, Villegas stated that the arguments presented by the state-owned company “do not fool anyone” and expressed solidarity with the Bolivian public. “Bolivia, you know, we move forward together,” Villegas said.

The leader also recalled that teleSUR had already been taken off the air in the country in 2019, during the government of Jeanine Áñez, when Entel initially alleged “technical problems” and, later, an alleged “reorganization of the grid”.

At the time, the station remained off the air for around a year, until the signal returned in November 2020, under the presidency of Luis Arce.

The new exclusion from channels occurs under the government of President Rodrigo Paz, who took charge of the country at the end of 2025, ending the cycle of governments of the Movement to Socialism (MAS). During the campaign and in the first months of his mandate, Paz was being presented by sectors of the press as a leader with a moderate profile, associated with an agenda of institutional conciliation and normalization of the country’s political and economic relations.

Entel’s decision provoked an immediate reaction from journalistic and communication entities in Bolivia. In a joint statement, the Association of International Press Correspondents (ACPI) and the National Association of Journalists of Bolivia (ANPB) stated that the justification presented by the state-owned company is insufficient and that the absence of detailed explanations “violates the right of the audience to receive a serious, transparent explanation and compatible with the responsibility that corresponds to a state-owned company”.

In the text, the entities point out that the arguments offered both in Entel’s official statement and through its customer service channels “generate well-founded suspicions that we are facing an unacceptable act of censorship and a violation of freedom of expression”.

ACPI and ANPB also warn that this type of decision directly affects the population’s right to information and could compromise public debate.

According to the statement, “respect for the diversity of voices and tolerance in the face of different or even opposing positions constitute fundamental pillars of any democratic system”, principles that, according to the organizations, “are recognized and protected by the Political Constitution of the State”.

The entities also warned that “the arbitrary silencing of media outlets and journalists can trigger a spiral of serious consequences for freedom of expression”, by normalizing censorship practices that “later prove difficult or even impossible to reverse”.