Content

Event Recap

Jan 15, 2020

Stemming Maduro’s Illicit Activities: What’s Next After the Jan. 5 Elections?

By Pablo Reynoso

Beyond hyperinflation and human rights abuses, the Maduro regime has diversified its criminal portfolio and profited from a host of illicit activities, from drug smuggling to illegal mining.

Corruption
Crisis Management
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Jan 14, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: January 14, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Twitter suspended dozens of accounts connected to the Maduro regime on January 7, 2020, including the official accounts of the Ministerio del Poder Popular de Petróleo (the Ministry of People’s Power for Petroleum), the Minister of the Interior, the Central Bank of Venezuela, and the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela.

Disinformation
Venezuela

New Atlanticist

Jan 13, 2020

China’s support for the Maduro regime: Enduring or fleeting?

By Cristina Guevara

As Venezuela’s biggest creditor, China is carrying the burden of Venezuela’s economic collapse. The PRC has become increasingly aware of this unsustainable situation, and, behind closed doors, has been in communications with the interim government. Back in February, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that China is open to working with a different government to ensure payment for the loans-for-oil deals. Strictly speaking, China’s relationship with the South American country is transactional, not ideological.

China
International Markets
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Jan 7, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: January 7, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

As Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó waged a political battle for Venezuela, they spent 2019 going head to head on social media as well. Social media is an important battlefield in Venezuela and one of the areas the regime prioritizes in order to control the country. The DFRLab analyzed their social presence on Facebook and Twitter from January to December 2019 and concluded that, even though Maduro has more followers and page likes, Guaidó garners more engagement with his posts.

Disinformation
Venezuela
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Dec 17, 2019

#AlertaVenezuela: December 17, 2019

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

As Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó waged a political battle for Venezuela, they spent 2019 going head to head on social media as well. Social media is an important battlefield in Venezuela and one of the areas the regime prioritizes in order to control the country. The DFRLab analyzed their social presence on Facebook and Twitter from January to December 2019 and concluded that, even though Maduro has more followers and page likes, Guaidó garners more engagement with his posts.

Disinformation
Venezuela
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Dec 10, 2019

#AlertaVenezuela: December 10, 2019

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

On December 8, 2019, Spanish newspaper El Mundo published a set of images that the opposition to the Maduro regime took to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The action was intended to prove that Óscar Pérez, a former police officer, had been executed by the regime. Venezuelan authorities announced on January 16, 2018, that Óscar Pérez had been killed in a shootout with security forces. Videos published on social media, however, showed Pérez asking Maduro forces to stop shooting and promising he would surrender. Pérez had led an insurrection against Maduro in June 2018.

Disinformation
Venezuela

Past events

Dec 9, 2019

US-Colombia task force launches findings of report in Bogota

By Camila Hernandez

Task Force recommendations focus on three mayor areas: Economic development and innovation; institutions, rule of law, and counter-narcotics; and the crisis in Venezuela.

Colombia
Politics & Diplomacy
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Dec 3, 2019

#AlertaVenezuela: December 3, 2019

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Internet users in Venezuela faced partial and total loss of connectivity on December 1, 2019. The disruption was not caused by censorship, as has happened previously, but by the planned maintenance of an undersea cable. Users from privately owned service providers faced connectivity issues from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (local time), which did not affect the state-provider CANTV, according to NetBlocks, a nonprofit organization that monitors internet accessibility around the world.

Disinformation
Venezuela
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Nov 26, 2019

#AlertaVenezuela: November 26, 2019

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Colombia has become the latest Latin American country to engage in anti-government protests, as citizens took to the streets across the region calling for change: from marches decrying austerity policies in Ecuador and Chile to protests in Bolivia initially based on claims of fraud in the October 20 election and more recently over the perception that President Evo Morales’s resignation was forced (i.e., a “coup”).

Disinformation
Venezuela
AlertaVenezuela email banner

#AlertaVenezuela

Nov 19, 2019

#AlertaVenezuela: November 19, 2019

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Inspired by recent events in Bolivia, supporters of both Juan Guaidó and Nicolás Maduro took to the streets in parallel, competing marches on Saturday, November 16. Guaidó called for the November 16 march as the first of a permanent series of protests to reach a definitive solution for the crisis. He said the aim was to “achieve what happened in Bolivia and that the Armed Forces and the police side with all Venezuelans.” In response, Maduro called on his supporters to head to the streets. Following Evo Morales removal in Bolivia, Maduro’s supporters added an additional cause into their protest and also marched in solidarity with the ousted Bolivian leader, who they claimed was the victim of a coup.

Disinformation
Venezuela