Disinformation, misinformation, or the spread of false information by any other moniker is not a new phenomenon. However, asymmetric exploitation within the information environment—by nation-state and non-state actors—are increasingly diffuse and effective. As the information environment continues to expand and transform at an ever-accelerating rate, monitoring the digital engagement space with an approach that actively informs this environment, as opposed to responding to it, is increasingly necessary. #AlertaVenezuela is paving the way for a deeper understanding of the complexities of the information environment in and around Venezuela. By exposing and explaining disinformation in this context, the Atlantic Council will shed light on the path ahead for combatting disinformation and foreign interference around one of the hemisphere’s largest economic, political and humanitarian crises.

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#AlertaVenezuela

Mar 24, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: March 24, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

Maduro, blaming Colomiba and Venezuelans returning from there for the spread of COVID-19, has called for a “radical quarantine” over two weeks.

Disinformation Venezuela
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Mar 17, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: March 17, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

Pro-Maduro site Justiciafuser amplified misleading claims about Alex Saab, a confidant of Maduro who’s currently being held in Cape Verde ahead of extradition to the US.

Disinformation Venezuela
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Mar 10, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: March 10, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

Seven videos on a Colombian YouTube channel appeared among the 20 most viewed videos about Venezuela between March 1 and 9, 2021. The videos falsely claimed that Maduro had been captured or that the United States had attacked Venezuela.

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Mar 3, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: March 2, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

Maduro’s Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino announced alleged attempts by the Colombian government to destabilize Venezuelan regime.

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Feb 23, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: February 23, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

While Maduro’s regime promoted diplomat Alex Saab, online accounts showed suspicious behavior using #FreeAlexSaab.

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Feb 16, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: February 16, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

Two Panamanian YouTube channels spread unsubstantiated claims targeting the Maduro regime, claiming a military revolt will occur due to the Sputnik V vaccine not arriving for another four years.

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Feb 9, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: February 9, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

A small group of accounts used the hashtag #VenezuelaSolidariaYHumanista in hundreds of thousands of mentions during the first four hours, showing signs of inauthentic behavior and traffic manipulation.

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Feb 3, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: February 3, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

A DFRLab investigation into Telegram groups found clues about how the Maduro regime rewards users for promoting hashtags on Twitter.

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Jan 26, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: January 26, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

An anti-Maduro video garnered thousands of views after claiming that Maduro had been ousted from power, betrayed by Maduro’s U.S. diplomat Alex Saab.

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Jan 19, 2021

#AlertaVenezuela: January 19, 2021

By Atlantic Council’s DFRLab

After hospitals in the Brazilian city Manaus ran out of oxygen to help treat COVID-19 on January 14, Maduro offered to make oxygen available to the neighboring country.

Disinformation Venezuela

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Aug 19, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: August 19, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

After U.S. authorities seized four vessels carrying fuel from Iran to Venezuela, pro-Maduro media amplified Iran’s claim that the United States “lie[d]” and that the Iranian shipment had no direct connection to Iran.

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Aug 11, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: August 12, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

After the detention of former Colombian President and current Senator Álvaro Uribe on August 4, 2020, political leaders in the region such as Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado warned that Colombia would become a regime like Venezuela and targeted Nicolás Maduro as responsible for the arrest as well. Machado’s claim was amplified by Colombian congresspeople supporting Uribe and appeared among the most watched videos on Facebook.

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Aug 4, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: August 04, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Following his arrest, two accounts supporting Colombian businessman Alex Saab attacked Colombian and Venezuelan journalists using violent language and threats on Twitter, which is prohibited by Twitter’s policy on safety. One of the accounts – @DenunciaJulio – also showed possible links to Colombian law firm De La Espriella, which represented Saab until July 2019.

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Jul 28, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 28, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

On July 21-23, 2020, Twitter accounts petitioning U.S. President Donald Trump for a military intervention in Venezeula also pushed four hashtags to trend that promoted anti-socialist messaging against Juan Guaidó and Nicolás Maduro. The accounts, all of which had set their locations to Venezuela, showed signs of inauthenticity and platform manipulation, such as posting duplicative content and creating fake engagement.

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Jul 22, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 22, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Representatives aligned with Luis Parra, Maduro’s illegitimately installed National Assembly president, announcing on July 19 that he had been hospitalized after “apparent pneumonia.” Pro-Maduro accounts used Parra’s name to convey news about his condition and to promote Maduro regime’s hashtags on Twitter. “Luis Parra” trended as a keyword on Venezuela between July 19-21, 2020.

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Jul 14, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 14, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Brazilian assets removed by Facebook for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” used the economic and health crisis in Venezuela, which has been exacerbated by the Maduro regime, to promote anti-socialist sentiment in Brazil. The DFRLab also found some of the assets shared memes supporting a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. The same message had been shared before by Rumbo Libertad, a Venezuelan far right and libertarian movement whose members have appeared in pictures with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his sons in the past.

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Jul 8, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 8, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

As the Maduro regime has reported an increase of coronavirus cases in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro himself blamed Venezuelan migrants returning illegally to their country and the “Colombian mafia” to be the main source of the “Colombian virus” in Venezuela.

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Jul 2, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 2, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Twitter accounts with set locations of Cuba and Venezuela made at least six anti-U.S. and pro-Cuba hashtags trend in Venezuela. The accounts used the hashtags to denounce U.S. sanctions and to promote Cuban medical missions in Venezuela.

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Jun 24, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: June 24, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

On Facebook, false claims that Nicolás Maduro would be ousted from power gained momentum after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would consider meeting with Nicolás Maduro to discuss “a peaceful exit [of Maduro] from power.”

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Jun 17, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: June 17, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

With South America as a growing epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maduro regime has doubled down on his politization of the disease, accusing the governments of Colombia and Brazil of intentionally infecting Venezuelans who are returning from those countries to their home country.

Disinformation Venezuela