Protests and unrest have rocked Venezuela following the July 28 election. Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro claims victory by a margin of 51% to 44%, while his opponent, President Edmundo Gonzalez, says his coalition won 66% of the vote. It is notable that President Gonzalez had a 25-point lead in most opinion polls in July.
America is Officially Recognized Gonzalez emerged the winner, joining international criticism of the election’s lack of transparency.
At least 15 protesters have been reported killed by Venezuelan authorities so far, including teenagers who were on their way home from a party and had stopped to watch the protests. At least 39 people have been reported injured, and more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested.
The internet has simultaneously been a massive democratizer in many ways, enabling the rise of technocracies and authoritarian regimes while further suppressing popular discontent that they don’t like.
Before the election, Maduro stressed that failure to win would result in a “bloody catastrophe.” With control over the country’s army, police, courts, and most of its violent paramilitary forces, he has the capacity to carry out his threat. Even left-leaning Brazil and Colombia have expressed concern about the circumstances and transparency of Venezuela’s July 28 elections, and have called on Maduro to release the results that prove his claim.
It is worth remembering that the US State Department still offers a bounty of up to $15 million for information or assistance in the arrest of President Maduro on suspicion of involvement in drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. He is also the subject of an International Criminal Court investigation for his violent crackdown on protests in 2014 and 2017.
Over the past decade, some 8 million Venezuelans have left the country due to an economic and political crisis that has been exacerbated by crippling sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies. President Maduro has few options and appears to believe he won’t receive much leniency by negotiating with Western countries, stepping down, or calling new elections to appease his critics. So he’s going all out.
Key to Maduro’s power is his control and influence over the information that reaches his population, and his ability to spread viral messages and activities in a timely manner. analysis An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reportedly “uncovered mass GenAI deception, disinformation campaigns and the blocking of over 100 websites” ahead of the election.
Authoritarian regimes from North Korea and Iran to Cuba and Syria are known to restrict or censor access to the internet to quell unrest, limit their citizens’ access to information, and ignite resistance. Countries such as Kenya and Comoros have also imposed widespread internet shutdowns or restrictions this year to quell unrest.
Various independent media outlets have been suspended in Venezuela since the election, including El Estimulo and Analytica, bringing the number to 11. The Maduro regime has shut down many media outlets that focused on exposing government disinformation and “fake news.”
“They want to dismantle a news source that still energizes communities in this country.” To tell Tinedo Guia, leader of the Venezuelan National Association of Journalists;
A Blueprint for Totalitarian Control
The Venezuelan government is adopting a four-pronged approach to achieve its goal of quelling widespread opposition unity and mobilization.
- By shutting down independent media chains, they seize the power to control what is and is not broadcast to the Venezuelan people.
“For example, in April 2019, several media outlets were shut down after opposition leader Juan Guaido announced on Twitter the opposition’s plans to urge the military to leave Maduro’s government.” Note Moises Rendón and Ariana Cohan.
“Internet was restored 20 minutes before President Maduro was due to deliver a live-streamed speech denounced by the opposition.”
- It restricts citizens’ ability and ease to use data, VPNs, and alternative browsers such as TOR (Onion Router).
- It uses the state-run internet and telephone provider CANTV to spy on and track citizens’ communications, and the government agency Conatel, which operates under the guise of tech compliance, has revoked licenses from those who have offended President Maduro.
Meanwhile, Chinese telecommunications company ZTE is helping track citizens’ movements, habits and behavior through their “Motherland Cards,” which are required to access all government-subsidized services and social security programs, including emergency food aid.
- They weaponize the judicial system and government institutions to prosecute and harass activists, journalists, and online activists who anger the regime. This includes the 2013 Center for Strategic Security and Protection (Seguridad Conservation Center) aims to track and stop those who may be spreading or communicating information that is deemed to undermine political stability.
And they simply threaten and corner those who are a headache for the regime.Espacio PublicoPublic Space reports that there have been 1,317 attacks on journalists in Venezuela since 2002, including arrests and killings, many of which remain embroiled in unresolved trials or charges. In the past two decades under the rule of President Maduro and former leader Hugo Chavez, Public Space lists the bankruptcy of 400 media companies, from television stations and websites to radio stations and newspapers.
Most ordinary Venezuelans are focused on having enough food for the day and fuel for their daily work and needs, and Twitter and other social networks are helping to spread information and the location of medicines and other services.
But those who can’t afford the internet bill or aren’t in areas with VPNs use text messaging on basic flip phones to keep in touch with what’s going on. But the Maduro regime easily exploits this, and smartphone ownership is falling by about 7% each year due to cost. Mesh networks that allow offline calls are also used, but this is illegal and still possible to track by the regime. In addition to state-run internet service providers, the Maduro regime is increasingly relying on private ISPs, including Spain’s Movistar, the country’s only international ISP, to report user activity.
“What I don’t understand is how a company that has corporate governance and a code of ethics, and operates on the principles of freedom of expression in the European Union, can do what they are doing in Venezuela.” To tell Cesar Batiz, editor of the Venezuelan independent news website El Pitazo.
Surveillance politics
Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
Apart from government control, censorship, tracking and prosecution of user activity, Venezuela Physical Internet Infrastructure Venezuela’s internet has been in steep decline for over a decade, with slow bandwidth, inefficient DNS servers, and poor performance due to a lack of undersea cables connecting the country to the rest of the world. Millions of poor people in the country and various criminal gangs also routinely steal the cables and antennas needed to keep the internet running smoothly. Only around 40% of people surveyed in Venezuela’s seven largest cities said they have access to the internet.
The Venezuelan government is simultaneously restricting its citizens’ access to the Internet and improving its techniques to use the existing Internet for its own gain. These information controls overlap with those of the past.
The internet and social media Key Role The Arab Spring of 2010 saw a surge in protest against governments, resulting in numerous pro-democracy protests, riots, coups and color revolutions from Nigeria to Ukraine. But the momentum and viral effect fostered by social media and the internet quickly became a tool for tightening state control as well. Marwa Fatahta: Note“Dictators and tyrants new and old have quickly learned how to weaponize the same online spaces and tools against their own people to suppress all forms of political dissent and mobilization, both online and offline.”
While the internet can be democratizing, it can also be a sand trap filled with mirror sites, tracking, and disinformation. Venezuela has adapted to a shaky internet infrastructure, but it has also adapted to the realities of organizing on the ground and learned not to rely on digital messages as the primary means of resistance.
After all, the country is in crisis, but there is little digital unity among anti-government citizens. Energy is in the streets rather than in tweets. Political momentum is hard-won, not easily gained through widespread or top-down messaging. In addition to the difficulty of rallying a broad anti-government movement, digital weaknesses also extend to harassing foreigners who take an interest in the country’s crisis. Breakups and heartbreak It is one of the approaches being used to generate more attention around the world to see the human side of this crisis ahead of elections.
The internet is both a flexible record-keeping environment and a receptacle of the collective instincts of citizens. It is shaped and guided in many ways, from below and above. It has simultaneously been a great democratizer in many ways, enabling the rise of technocracies and dictatorships while further suppressing the discontent of the masses they don’t like. Venezuela’s struggle to shake off Maduro and its communications blackouts may seem more distant and far more dramatic than what’s happening in the United States, but if anything it serves as a warning of how slippery the road can be when only one version of political truth is broadcast and believed.
