The Chavista dictatorship is preparing a legal offensive against social networks and NGOs, amid arrests of opponents and attacks on the press. The modus operandi follows the path of measures applied by Putin in Russia.
(DW) This week, the Venezuelan National Assembly, controlled by the Chavista regime, began voting on a package of laws designed to regulate social networks, toughen the actions of NGOs in the country and punish “fascism” – a term often used by Nicolás Maduro to refer to oppositionists. Critics claim that the legal offensive operated by Chavismo’s allies is aimed at shielding Maduro – a path similar to that previously traced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is Maduro’s first legislative maneuver after regime-controlled electoral authorities declared him the winner of the July 28 vote. The proposal comes amid allegations of human rights violations, illegal arrests and press censorship promoted by the regime before and after the elections.
The result released by the regime – without detailed figures and contested internationally – plunged the country into a political crisis, which has left 25 dead, 192 injured and thousands arrested in protests following the vote.
The same modus operandi is being used in Putin’s Russia, which has been in power for 25 years – the same period that Chavismo has ruled Venezuela. At least since 2014, the Kremlin has also engaged in repressive strategies to regulate social networks, weaken foreign NGOs and alienate opponents.
Legal offensive in Venezuela
Announcing the bills on Tuesday (13/08), the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, said that the proposed legal framework “protects the population from hatred” and that it is designed so that the “electoral result is respected”. He also indicated that Venezuela intends to ban international observers in the next presidential elections, so that “never again will a foreigner take a position” on the Venezuelan electoral process.
The Venezuelan legislature is made up of just one House, controlled by Chavismo, which occupies 256 of the 277 seats. Bills need to be approved in two rounds before they can go to the president for sanction. While the “anti-fascist” law, which also targets social networks, is in the process of public consultation, the NGO law is already circulating in the second instance and could be approved on Thursday.
In a statement, the United Nations said that the bill is negative for democracy and that Venezuela is experiencing a “climate of fear”.
Social networks and “fascism”
The regulation of social networks comes after Maduro said that the platforms spread “fascism” and political division. Last week, he banned X for ten days after the platform’s CEO, Elon Musk, said that the president promoted “electoral fraud”. Maduro has also boycotted the messaging app WhatsApp, pointed out that Instagram is an instrument for spreading hatred and accused the Chinese app TikTok of wanting to promote a civil war in Venezuela.
Rodríguez argued that the regulation will promote individual and collective tranquillity in society, and that social networks are the greatest danger to freedom. In a speech to the Assembly, the Speaker of the House also said that he intends to revise the “law against hatred”, which has existed in Venezuela since 2017, to punish the spread of hatred on social media.
However, there are also elements that allow for tougher rules against social media already incorporated into the new “law against fascism”, which was approved in the first round and enters public discussion this Wednesday.
The 30-article bill punishes the promotion of meetings or demonstrations that “applaud fascism” on digital platforms or in other environments, and creates space to make “fascist” political parties illegal. Companies that finance activities that incite fascism can be fined 100,000 dollars and there is also provision for criminal sanctions, such as imprisonment.
The text points out that “fascism” is any ideological stance or expression based on rational superiority or “ethnic, social or national origin”, which “assumes violence as a method of political action”. According to critics, this opens the door for the government to punish groups under allegations that they have used violence in the name of, for example, neoliberalism. The fear is that the regime will use the term to label any kind of content critical of the regime.
Offensive against NGOs
The second round of voting on the NGO Law was interrupted on Tuesday following disagreements on one of the sections, and is due to resume next Thursday. The first discussion of this bill dates back to 2023, and its main objective is to tighten controls on foreign organizations.
The text also wants to ban “fascism, intolerance or hatred” in the organizations and prevent them from “carrying out activities typical of political parties”. The law prohibits the receipt of donations for political entities and obliges NGOs to register, allowing the government to scrutinize the “list of donations received, indicating whether they are national or foreign”. Failure to comply entails fines of up to 10,000 dollars.
Russian modus operandi
Putin has also used legislative strategies to undermine the actions of his opponents. Controlling social networks through proposed regulations, for example, has been a strategy embraced by the Kremlin at least since 2014, when Putin sanctioned the “Law on Bloggers” – a rule that obliges citizens to register with the government in order to publish content online.
In 2019, a new rule came into force in the country, the “sovereign internet law”, nicknamed the online iron curtain, which isolated Russia from foreign internet servers and directed internal traffic to government checkpoints. The strategies culminated in 2022 with the total banning of Facebook and Instagram, which the Kremlin viewed as “extremist”.
That same year, Putin also approved a package to criminalize the dissemination of “false information about the country’s Armed Forces”, which made it difficult to upload any kind of content about the invasion of Ukraine on apps like Tik Tok. The law, however, did not make it clear what would be considered false information and, like Maduro’s anti-facist law, provided for criminal and administrative sanctions.
In 2012, it was Putin’s turn to target NGOs that acted as election observers in the country. He obliged foreign organizations focused on “political action” or “shaping public opinion” to register in the country as “foreign agents” and submit periodic reports. 148 organizations made the list and 27 of them closed down after the law, according to Amnesty International.
In 2015, Russia also drafted new legislation that allowed authorities to prosecute foreign non-governmental organizations perceived as “undesirable” under national security allegations. Anyone working for such NGOs could be sentenced to six years in prison.
In March 2024, Putin was also re-elected in an election marked by the absence of effective opposition, with many opponents already imprisoned or barred from running. The United States accused the election of being “neither free nor fair”. Dozens of protesters opposed to the result were arrested in clashes with the police.
The arrest of opponents as a modus operandi is also frequent in the country, which jailed 1,300 protesters against the military campaign in Ukraine in 2022.