Figures from the Maduro government dispute about the 3:52 pandemic
(CNN Spanish) -
Facebook temporarily froze the page of the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on the social network after what it called "repeated violations" of the disinformation policies related to the coronavirus, a company spokesman said this Saturday to CNN.
"We removed a video posted on President Nicolás Maduro's page for violating our policies on disinformation related to COVID-19 that could put people at risk," the spokesperson said.
He added: "Due to repeated violations of our rules, we block the page for 30 days during which it will only be in read mode."
Although the spokesperson did not identify the subject of the video that was removed, the Reuters agency, which first published the news, explained that the audiovisual was related to the so-called Carvativir, the alleged miracle drug presented at the beginning of the year by Maduro and that has been questioned by experts for lacking scientific foundation.
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"We follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to which there is currently no medication that prevents or cures the virus," explained the Facebook spokesperson.
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This Sunday the Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information of the Maduro government, reported that "categorically rejects a new arbitrariness by the company in charge of the social network Facebook," adding that the blockade threatens the articles of the Venezuelan Constitution that frame freedom of expression in Venezuela.
Facebook's sanction is confirmed the same day that a call was made between the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
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Last January, Maduro said in a televised statement on the state channel VTV, without presenting evidence, that Carvativir "neutralizes 100% of the coronavirus."
CNN has contacted the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for their comments on the alleged drug;
however, so far no response has been received.
After Maduro's announcement in January, María Eugenia Landaeta, head of Infectious Diseases at the Caracas University Hospital, said about Carvativir that the plant extracts "and things that they are promoting do not really have any scientific validity."
He affirms that until there is a study with a good methodology and that shows that this works, those "miraculous and magical cures are not going to work."
With information from Osmary Hernández and Florencia Trucco.
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