On Feb. 12, student protestors took to the streets in various Venezuelan cities to protest the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The symbolic date, commemorating the battle of La Victoria, brought many students and opposition supporters to the streets, causing violent clashes against security forces and supporters of the Maduro administration. In an attempt to dissuade protestors, the government has allegedly prevented images from being viewed on Twitter.  

Foreign Policy reports that protests have been ongoing for some weeks because Venezuela has soaring crime rates, increasing inflation and a shortage of basic necessities of every day life. They also explain that most protests had been confined to provincial cities, bastions of the opposition, but on Wednesday people took to the streets of Caracas.

As the protests turned violent, which included the death of three anti-government protestors, Venezuelan media did not cover the events. The Wall Street Journal reports that both state-owned and privately owned news channels have not reported the events due to censorship or intimidation, except for government officials denouncing the protests. As a result, Venezuelans have turned to foreign news channels, the Internet and social media to stay informed.

However, it is reported that Twitter users in Venezuela have not been able to view images on the social media site. Nu Wexler, a Twitter spokesman, confirmed this after being asked by the AP. The AP also reports that protestors and users said the blocking of images intensified on Feb. 12. Yet, the state-run phone company Cantv denied the allegations, explaining that Twitter's servers are outside Venezuela, reports Bloomberg.

With Twitter images blocked by the government and a report that NTN24, a Colombian news channel broadcasted in Venezuela, also off the air, opposition protestors and journalists have grown worried. "We are having a media blackout," said Josefina Blanco, a freelance science journalist, to Bloomberg, and explained how with those sources of information "can we know what is really going on in our streets."