Germany is pressing Venezuelan authorities to reverse a decision to take German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle's Spanish-language channel off the air.

Deutsche Welle said Sunday that the channel had been pulled and urged Venezuelan broadcasting authority Conatel to return it to its cable network.

On Monday, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said the Venezuelan decision was "very regrettable" and noted that freedom of the press and opinion "have a high value for this German government."

Conatel did not make any public statement about why it had removed Deutsche Welle's Spanish-language channel from its service.

Germany is one of the countries that have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. Last month, the Venezuelan government ordered German ambassador Daniel Kriener to leave the country.