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More than 100 civil society organizations, academics, and individual human rights defenders have issued an urgent call to action in response to the alarming use of technology for political repression in Venezuela, demanding an immediate end to surveillance and censorship, digital repression, and human rights violations.
Following the recent presidential elections on July 28, 2024, Nicolás Maduro’s government has intensified its surveillance and control measures, using digital tools to suppress political dissent and restrict access to information, including blocking 62 media outlets.
Since at least 2016, Chinese tech company ZTE has been exporting surveillance technology to Venezuela, and in 2021 Maduro admitted to owning phone-hacking tech made by Israeli firm Cellebrite. Over the years, authorities have continuously expanded an extensive surveillance apparatus that is now being used to suppress pro-democracy protests and target opposition voices. This includes using the messaging app VenApp to report “anti-Chavistas,” video surveillance, and patrolling drones to monitor and intimidate citizens. These tools, combined with the state-sponsored program “Operación Tun Tun” (“Operation Knock-Knock”), have facilitated widespread violence, harassment, doxxing, and arbitrary detentions of activists, journalists, and citizens.
The violent crackdown on the people of Venezuela—both online and off—for expressing dissent is a clear human rights violation. Authorities in Venezuela have a duty to protect all citizens but instead are abusing their power to target individuals who dare have an opinion they do not like; it is dangerous and will only lead to more violence.Marianne Díaz Hernández, #WhyID Campaigner at Access Now
In the past week, Nicolás Maduro’s government has arrested over 2,000 people, at least 20 people have been killed during protests, and it’s reported that at least 25 people have been forcibly disappeared.
The actions of Nicolás Maduro’s government are not that of a democracy, and instead are straight out of an authoritarian regime’s playbook. Weaponizing technology and messaging apps will only further further enhance repression and limit people’s participation in democracy; more must be done to protect people from human rights violations and violence.Iria Puyosa, Senior Research Fellow at Atlantic Council’s Democracy and Tech Initiative
The letter is signed by a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals, including Conexión Segura y Libre, Redes Ayuda, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Fundación Karisma, Derechos Digitales, Fight for the Future, and many more. The signatories represent a broad spectrum of global voices committed to defending human rights and democracy — online and off.