Honourable members of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in Canada's House of Commons, I am honoured to appear here today to give testimony on the Maduro regime's systematic use of digital repression tools for political persecution in Venezuela. These tools are part of a calculated strategy to silence dissent, instill fear and maintain an iron grip on power.
My testimony will highlight key tactics employed by the regime, drawing on my research on this matter over the last decade.
The scale of surveillance in Venezuela is deeply concerning. The Venezuelan government has built a sophisticated apparatus for monitoring and controlling its citizens' digital lives. At the heart of that system lies the homeland system, or sistema patria. This system allows the regime to collect massive amounts of personal data, with or without consent, in order to track citizens' consumption habits, political affiliations and even family relations. The Maduro regime has shown blatant disregard for the privacy of citizens' communications. Evidence suggests widespread interception of phone calls, text messages and Internet traffic.
A report by Telefónica, for example, indicates that, in 2001 alone, over 20% of its user base had their communications intercepted at the behest of the security agencies of Venezuela's regime. As you know, Telefónica is a Spanish company. We suspect the number of wiretapped lines is likely higher in Venezuelan companies, particularly in the case of the state-owned company Cantv, which provides service to more than half of the Venezuelan population.
While this has not been definitively proven, we suspect that sophisticated spyware is highly likely to be in place, given the detailed information about private conversations that pro-government figures have revealed on numerous occasions on broadcast television and at public events. A vast network of video cameras are deployed across the major cities of the country, adding to the invasive surveillance network and its regime services.
While the full capacities of that system remain unknown, we know facial recognition technology is certainly being used to identify and track individuals of interest to the regime. The lack of transparency surrounding this technology raises serious concerns about its potential for abuse and its chilling effect on freedom of assembly.
Social media platforms, while vital for accessing information and organizing in the face of a restrictive media landscape, have become a space of digital repression. Activists, human rights defenders and journalists are subject to harassment in those spaces. Doxing and online harassment campaigns targeting journalists and activists who dare to criticize the regime often lead to off-line consequences, including arbitrary detentions and short-term disappearances. Authorities use tools like the state-owned messaging app VenApp, as well as social media monitoring, to identify and track dissidents. Information obtained by illegitimate monitoring is often used to intimidate, harass and even detain individuals. Doxing—revealing personal information online—is also used against activists and journalists.
Days after the July 28 election, many citizens reported seeing drones patrolling cities in the context of increased militarization and popular protests. This is even more alarming considering that Venezuela also has armed drones that were seen during combats in 2022 with dissident Colombian guerrillas in the south of Venezuela.
The Maduro regime's systematic use of digital repression tools presents a grave threat to human rights and democracy in Venezuela and the western hemisphere. The international community must stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and take concrete actions to condemn the regime's digital repression tactics, sanction entities involved in deploying these digital repression tools, support organizations promoting digital rights and freedom of expression in Venezuela, and assist Venezuelans seeking refuge from persecution.
Let's remember that the fight for democracy and human rights in Venezuela is inextricably linked to the battle for democracy and human rights across the western hemisphere.
Thank you.