Caracas Chronicles

One important thing to say about the Maduro media crackdown strategy is that it goes way beyond silencing journalists and media outlets. The terror operation over the general population has people afraid not only of what they post on social media, but also of the content on their phones and in their private chats. Per the government’s terror campaign, what you post online could lead to masked government agents knocking on your door and what you have on your phone could expose you to an uncomfortable rollercoaster of extortion that starts with security forces scrolling through your timelines and photo galleries in security checkpoints and can end with you in political jail.

Venezuelans are terrified of speaking up.

This is why a few days after the Venezuelan elections actress and activist Prakriti Maduro started posting anonymous DMs of people telling their stories of repression in the context of the post electoral protests. All sorts of abuse were recorded in these posts, from the harassment that electoral witnesses have suffered to $5,000 shake ups against common citizens (mind you, $5k could be more than a one-year salary for a Venezuelan with a college degree). We translated some of these posts for the benefit of non Spanish-speaking community.

These messages revived Efecto Eco, a movement for freedom of expression that helped amplify over 200 testimonies during the media blackout imposed by the government during the 2014 protests. Now, ten years later, Efecto Eco has brought together a group of artists to give a face and a voice to the stories that they’ve been gathering from the ground.

So far, the testimonies published include interpretations by Prakriti herself, Simon’s Christian McGaffney, friend of the blog Marcel Rasquin, Venezuelan SUPER star Maria Gabriela De Faria, and actresses Stephanie Sigman and Raquel Rojas. Efecto Eco’s co-founder Sebastián Arrechadera has been helping to coordinate the effort.

A call to action

We’re also collaborating with Efecto Eco to help disseminate these stories. And this effort can go a long way with your help as well, so make sure to share, comment and like these posts. We’ve seen how the news cycle is starting to wash away the blatant fraud that took place in Venezuela. Let’s keep it in the timeline.