Editorial: La Tabla/Platform for Data Journalism 16 FEB 2026
Writer and lawyer Luis Britto García has confirmed that the newspaper Últimas Noticias censored his column “Pare de Sufrir” on February 7, in which he provided a legal analysis of the recent Reform to the Organic Hydrocarbons Law. This confirmation was made by Britto García in a brief email response to the digital media La Tabla, stating simply, “Confirmed.” According to various sources, the decision to withhold publication was based on editorial criteria from the newspaper’s management.
The omitted article included a technical examination of the law approved on January 29, which Britto García drafted in his capacity as a lawyer. His column reappeared in the February 14 edition, but it addressed the topic of Love and Friendship Day, with no reference to the oil reform.
This isn’t the first incident of censorship faced by the intellectual from the editorial levels of newspapers where his texts have been published. In December 2002, the newspaper El Nacional, where he was then writing, demanded he support the oil strike, and upon his refusal, suspended his column. This incident led to his departure and subsequent joining of Últimas Noticias, where he had published smoothly for almost 25 years until now.
The ownership context of the newspaper adds layers to the situation. In 2014, the majority of shares, previously held by the Capriles family, were sold through a shell company to an unidentified Venezuelan buyer. Subsequent investigations linked this buyer to former Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami and businessman Samark López. Both were arrested and prosecuted for corruption in 2023. Despite these criminal incidents, the newspaper’s managerial structure has remained intact. Since 2017, journalist Felipe Saldivia has been the director of the newspaper and the president of the board.
The decision not to publish the legal analysis on the Hydrocarbons Law, in a media outlet that has been the regular space for the columnist for over seventy years, raises questions about current editorial criteria, although the newspaper’s management has not provided any statements regarding this. Britto García, for his part, continued his column last Saturday with a topic unrelated to the controversy.