The Latest: Internet restrictions reported in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):
12:55 p.m.
An online censorship-monitoring group says Venezuela's state-run internet provider has been restricting access to YouTube and some Google services.
Europe-based NetBlocks says CANTV also briefly restricted access Tuesday to Twitter and Facebook after opposition leader Juan Guaidó and freed colleague Leopoldo López said they were rallying military units to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
NetBlocks director Alp Toker says Google's search engine was not affected, but Microsoft's Bing was.
NetBlocks says the blockages were not fully effective but marked a sudden escalation of censorship.
Most internet traffic in Venezuela is controlled by CANTV, but blockages could apparently be bypassed using VPN services.
NetBlocks says past recent blockages in Venezuela have lasted from 12 minutes to over 20 hours.
Google and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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12:30 p.m.
Venezuelan military commander Vladimir Padrino López has appeared on national television to say that a "coup attempt" by the opposition is being defeated and most rebellious troops have withdrawn from the streets.
López was flanked by other security forces as he described Tuesday's rebellion as small and insignificant. He said that the armed forces reject "this new aggression" by the U.S.-backed opposition.
He called it "a savage opposition" and said "it's an opposition that doesn't have a sense of patriotism, it's an anti-democratic opposition."
The military commander said the rest of Venezuela is calm.
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó was joined by several heavily armed troops earlier in the day as he called for the military to...