# Ladder: shutdowns and blocking, in South America

A government cuts internet or mobile telephone service, blocks news websites or social media platforms, or jams radio and television signals, so that audiences cannot receive news and reporters cannot send it out.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow with ?stage= (restrict, pressure, punish, silence, eliminate), ?continent=, ?from= and ?to= (year or date).

## Punish

Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 28 July 2024 | [Venezuela](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ve) ([RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Nicolas Maduro](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/nicolas-maduro) | In the two weeks after Venezuela's disputed July 28, 2024 presidential election, Reporters Without Borders documented 70 press-freedom violations, including nine detentions, nine expulsions of foreign correspondents and the suspension of the social media platform X, as President Nicolas Maduro's go… [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-venezuela-post-election-press-crackdown) | Sustained | 2 |

## Silence

Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| October 1951 | [Argentina](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ar) ([RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Juan Perón](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/juan-peron) | La Prensa, one of Argentina's leading newspapers and a longtime critic of President Juan Perón's government, was expropriated by the state earlier in 1951. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1951-argentina-peron-la-prensa-handed-to-cgt) | Sustained (1 October 1951) | 3 |
| 11 September 1973 | [Chile](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/cl) ([RSF 2026 rank: 70th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Augusto Pinochet](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/augusto-pinochet) | On the day of the September 11, 1973 military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende, Chile's armed forces bombed and shut down radio stations that opposed the takeover, arrested journalists and closed newspapers aligned with the ousted government, under the military junta led by Augusto Pi… [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1973-chile-coup-press-shutdown) | Sustained (1 March 1990) | 2 |

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