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The publication of the latest report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, which conclusively documents the commission of crimes against humanity under the regime of Nicolás Maduro, crimes against humanity were committed and continue to be committed after the July 28 elections, unleashed a sophisticated information warfare operation by the ruling party in Venezuela. In the face of irrefutable evidence of systematic human rights violations, Chavismo deployed an unprecedented propaganda machine, using social networks as its main battlefield.
Through a network of fake accounts, bots and proxy media, the government orchestrated a coordinated campaign in networks to call the report “illegitimate” and “shameful”, aiming to discredit the victims and manipulate public opinion, in a desperate attempt to shield itself from any kind of responsibility.
What the report says
In 185 pages, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission Report is blunt. Crimes against humanity of politically motivated persecution are committed in Venezuela; these include arbitrary detentions, torture, short-term forced disappearances and sexual violence, which are carried out as part of a coordinated plan to silence those who oppose or are perceived as such. These include children and adolescents, as well as people with disabilities.
The Mission details cases of 25 people killed by firearms in the recent violence. Hundreds more were injured and thousands more detained for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression. The violation of human rights is not only evident, but has clear perpetrators; the orders come from the high government headed by Nicolás Maduro, and are executed from all levels.
Most of these acts were carried out by the civilian (SEBIN) and military (DGCIM) intelligence services. However, together with the security forces, the powers and institutions of the State reflected their alignment with the Executive to the detriment of the independent and impartial exercise of their constitutional mandates, contributing to the commission of serious violations and crimes.
“This includes especially the CNE, responsible for conducting the electoral process… The National Assembly continued to be instrumental in the approval of new laws contrary to human rights and restrictive of the civic and democratic space. The justice system, including both the Supreme Court of Justice, governing body of the Judiciary, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, continued to operate with a lack of independence and impartiality and subjected to the dictates of the Executive”.
The conversation on social media
ProBox investigated the network conversation in light of the Mission’s renewal of the publication of its final report on October 15.
This search yielded 6,685 mentions related to the conversation between September 16 and October 15, with a peak on October 11 with 647 mentions, and a second peak on October 15 with 614 mentions, coinciding with the renewal of the Mission and the publication of the report.
This was mainly concentrated in X with 56.99% of the mentions obtained (3,810 mentions), followed by Facebook with 25.68% (1,717), Instagram with 16.42% (1,098), and finally by TikTok with 0.9% (60).
Among the most repeated words are:
- Nicolás Maduro (with 750 mentions),
- government Nicolas (with 195),
- arbitrary detentions (with 188),
- sexual violence (with 131),
- July elections (with 131),
- serious violations (with 127),
- cruel treatment (with 123),
- minors (with 122), among other words linked to the civil society conversation around the renewal of the mission and its most recent report.
Also recorded were terms used by actors linked to the regime and its negative response to the renewal of the mission and the publication of its own report, including words such as:
- Illegitimate resolution (with 114 mentions),
- Venezuela rejects (with 110),
- energy terms (with 96),
- embarrassing mandate (with 89),
- and illegitimate irritation (with 86).
The media widely spread the news on platforms such as X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok of the report accusing the government of Nicolás Maduro of serious human rights violations. Making reference on how the Mission’s report exposes arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, torture and the abuse of minors, pointing out the massive participation of security forces in these crimes.
Chavismo defended itself with all its weapons
The activation of the ruling party to replicate a clear narrative against the Mission’s report, as well as its renewal, was evident. We obtained 426 mentions around the conversation promoted by the government. These were mainly concentrated on October 11, date on which the UN Mission was renewed with 182 mentions of the topic, being X the main network with 53.52% of these (228 mentions), despite the blocking order of X (former Twitter) by the regime. Our analysis also identified publications from institutional accounts such as the Venezuelan Embassy in Greece rejecting the renewal of the mandate using terms such as “illegitimate resolution”, “alleged mandate”, “shameful”, among others. As well as the pro-government troop criticizing the report, calling it a “pamphlet” with “false violation of human rights” and using as a source the note published by Venezuela News, a pro-government media. They also highlight publications on other platforms such as Facebook from other proxy media such as La Iguana TV.
Likewise, we identified around 15 accounts on Instagram that posted exactly the same message with the photo of the communiqué of the regime in rejection of the renewal of the Mission.
These, in some cases accompanied the publication with tags such as #VamosNico, the account of the Ministry of People’s Power for Communication and Information (MIPPCI) and the personal account of the Minister, Vice President of Communication, Culture and Tourism, and president of Venezolana de Televisión, Freddy Ñáñez.
The message of the images quoted verbatim the first paragraph of the communiqué: “The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects, in the strongest terms, the renewal of the irritating and illegitimate resolution on the alleged mandate of the shameful Fact-Finding Mission, created by the governments of the failed cartel known as the Lima Group, with exclusively political objectives at the service of the government of the United States of America”.
A key point is that in contrast to what was reflected by the media and civil society, the pro-government narrative wanted to disassociate Nicolás Maduro from any responsibility. His name was only mentioned 23 times in this chavista conversation, that is, 5.4% of the registered mentions; while civil society mentioned him 32 times more, with a total of 750 times in the sample.
On the other hand, the ruling party focused on the massive replication of the communiqué issued by the Venezuelan government, using terms such as “failed governments”, “Lima denominated”, “exclusively political objectives”, and “United States government”, words that are found in the official communiqué issued by the State.
As in Instagram, the same message was also replicated in X that disseminated the official communiqué on the report. ProBox identified at least 42 accounts used the same message and the same image in a coordinated manner, many of these accounts being created in August 2024 and all replicating pro-government content.
The role of the Venezuela News Agency also stands out in the middle of the pro-government conversation. This “media”, dedicated to disinformation, also published the communiqué on Instagram with the same text and image used by official sources and the officialist troop, while in X they published a video-report explaining how “despicable” the UN Mission was, assuring that reporter Karen Méndez would tell the “truth” that is hidden about it, and how supposedly the mission was established at the request of the United States.
But the citizen complaint dominated the conversation
The research revealed that the top three accounts that made the most mentions of the topic were found in X, all of them being representatives of civil society:
- In first place, Reporte Ya was found, with 112 mentions within the sample, reaching 5,130,572 accounts on X, mostly informative content about the report on the increase in human rights violations in Venezuela.
- In second place is Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, which made 63 of the registered mentions and reached approximately 11,716,728 accounts on X, through a digital activism campaign denouncing crimes against humanity and the need for the renewal of the UN Mission in the country.
- In third place is Provea, which through about 61 mentions in the sample reached about 19,572,992 accounts in a campaign to make visible the importance of the renewal of the Mission, even more so in light of the findings confirming the new cases of torture reported by the Mission.
Also noteworthy in X was the participation of Edmundo González, who received 257 mentions in the context of this conversation, and Maria Corina Machado, who also received 200 mentions.
González published on October 15 the conclusions of the report, obtaining more than 8,600 likes on this publication, reaching more than 79,400 accounts. Meanwhile, Maria Corina Machado published on October 11 the news regarding the extension of the Mission’s mandate for two more years, thus pointing out the need to make visible the human rights situation in the country, obtaining more than 18,000 likes and reaching more than 302,300 accounts on this platform.
According to the total of 6,685 mentions linked to the conversation collected in the sample, our analysis indicates that among the most repeated words the following stand out:
- Nicolás Maduro (with 750 mentions),
- government Nicolas (with 195),
- arbitrary detentions (with 188),
- sexual violence (with 131),
- July elections (with 131),
- serious violations (with 127),
- cruel treatment (with 123),
- minors (with 122).
In turn, terms used by actors linked to the regime and its negative response to the renewal of the mission and the publication of its own report were also recorded, including words such as:
- Illegitimate resolution (with 114 mentions),
- Venezuela rejects (with 110),
- energy terms (with 96),
- embarrassing mandate (with 89),
- and illegitimate irritation (with 86).
Evidencing that, despite the activation of the pro-government troops in networks in the dissemination of communiqués with the intention of building and amplifying a narrative to delegitimize the role of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, the digital conversation around this important milestone documenting cases of violence, persecution and systematic violation of human rights in Venezuela has had greater impact on networks than the pro-government campaign due to the momentum of civil society, NGOs and independent media making visible the findings of the report.
