Technology
Telefónica quadruples telephone tapping in Venezuela at Maduro's request
In 2016, the Venezuelan regime requested the tapping of 234,932 Venezuelan telephone numbers. In 2021, the number increased to 861,004
June 23, 2022 1:00pm
Updated: June 24, 2022 9:02am
The Spanish company Telefonica allegedly quadrupled its telephone tapping in Venezuela at the request of Nicolás Maduro's regime, according to a recently published company transparency report cited by the Spanish newspaper Voz Pópuli.
"Nicolás Maduro's regime thus increases its control over the country's citizens, and it does so through the Spanish operator, which is obliged by law to comply with the country's regulations," the Spanish media outlet highlights.
The well-known opposition leader Leopoldo López, who escaped from Venezuela to Spain after being a political prisoner of the regime, demanded through his social networks an explanation from the Telefónica company about the possible tapping of Venezuelan telephones.
"According to this report, Maduro, with the collaboration of the Spanish company TELEFONICA, has quadrupled the illegal interceptions of Venezuelans' communications," López wrote on Twitter.
"This merits an explanation from this European corporation," he continued. "Dictatorships are maintained by their collaborators."
Según este informe Maduro, con la colaboración de la empresa española TELEFÓNICA, ha cuadruplicado las intervenciones ilegales de las comunicaciones a vzlanos.
— Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez) June 22, 2022
Esto amerita una explicación por parte de esta corporación europea.
A las dictaduras las mantienen sus colaboradores. https://t.co/G8sBx0JdnM
Telefónica is the parent company of Movistar, which offers mobile and landline phones, satellite television, and internet in Venezuela.
Voz Pópuli cited requests to tap Venezuelan telephones in the last five years:
- 2016: 380.250 requests
- 2017: 234.932 requests
- 2018: 639.911 requests
- 2019: 651.446 requests
- 2020: 736.498 requests
- 2021: 861.004 requests
