VENEZUELA: A PLAYBOOK FOR DIGITAL REPRESSION - The report is a comprehensive study of how Venezuela has become a model for digital authoritarianism and an exporter of democratic backsliding to the rest of the Americas in the last twenty-five years and is a crucial resource for understanding the digital authoritarian model in Venezuela.

In the study—spanning 2021 to 2024—the authors document and analyze the multifaceted Venezuelan digital authoritarian model. The findings reveal a sophisticated and massive surveillance apparatus, encompassing a digital ID, extensive data-gathering applications such as mobile apps and integrated databases, street video surveillance, and pervasive monitoring of phone and social media communications. Moreover, the research exposes state-sponsored information operations that transcend domestic borders, targeting audiences in other Latin American countries, the United States, Africa, and Europe. The study further highlights systematic violations of citizens’ rights within digital spaces, primarily directed at human rights defenders, journalists, and female and LGBTQI politicians. Additionally, the authors shed light on the mechanisms of internet censorship, state-sponsored phishing attacks, and the potential for shutdowns in the lead-up to elections.

The report authors, Andrés Azpúrua, executive director at VE Inteligente; Daniel Suárez, research associate at the DFRLab; and Iria Puyosa, senior research fellow at the DFRLab will present their findings, discussing how changes in news distribution in response to censorship, and the rise of messaging apps for accessing political information have shaped the information environment in Venezuela. The speakers will contextualize their findings in the lead up to the July 28 elections.

Ben Rowswell, who served as Canada’s ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017, will be delivering the opening remarks. Currently, Rowswell is leading the Network for Democratic Solidarity, a nonprofit organization that focuses on facilitating greater alignment of responses to threats to democracy and strengthening the global democracy agenda.

Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and chair of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center’s Venezuela Solutions Group, will deliver the closing remarks. Filipetti has been instrumental in shaping the bipartisan debate on US foreign policy towards Venezuela, advocating for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis.

The launch will be six days before Venezuelans will vote in presidential elections that, although not entirely free and fair, pose a window for transition toward democratization. The report’s findings are particularly timely and relevant in this context, as they shed light on the digital repression and authoritarian tactics that could influence the outcome of the presidential election.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 07/22/2024