Then there are the regional newspapers in Venezuela, of which there are 80, according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Venezuela#National
The majority of regional newspapers in Venezuela are privately owned. The majority of those have editorial stances which are anti-Maduro to one degree or another. The same can be said of the majority of television and radio stations in Venezuela.
Most Venezuelans, like most Americans, get their news from T.V. There are many anti-Maduro television stations which Venezuelans can access and, in fact, these are the most popularly viewed stations. Many Venezuelans have access to cable T.V. Cable stations available in Venezuela include not only stations emanating from Venezuela, but stations based in other countries, including the U.S. Both CNN in Spanish and Fox News Spanish . Both stations are widely viewed and both contain extensive coverage which is exclusively anti-Maduro. (This is in line with U.S. corporate media policy which can be summarized as never publish a single word which is positive about anything in Venezuela.) So, the entire notion that Venezuelan's have no access to news coverage critical of the Maduro government is completely false. The fact is that Venezuelans have extensive access to anti-government news reports and propaganda.
None of what I've written above should be taken to mean that there has been no government repression aimed at anti-Maduro newspapers and other mass media news outlets in Venezuela. There has undoubtedly been at least some, and perhaps a lot. I do not defend such tactics. The extent of such repression is both beyond the scope of this article and beyond this reporter's knowledge.
Governments around the world make efforts to discredit, repress, and even censure newspapers and media outlets which oppose their policies. This is certainly true in the United States, where President Donald Trump has bluntly repeated on almost every available occasion that newspapers which are critical of him are "fake news" and are, "the enemy of the American People." Trump has also frequently attempted to intimidate news media by threatening to sue media news outlets over coverage he objects too. The fact that most, if not all, governments engage in such repression does not excuse any of it.
President Maduro should not be immune to legitimate criticism of actions his government has taken to suppress, intimidate, or censure newspapers and other news outlets which are critical of his government, providing such allegations are factually supported. However, the story that the last anti-Maduro newspaper may be on the verge of closing is a complete fabrication -- a big lie.
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