The Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles rejected this Tuesday the proposal of Nicolas Maduro to develop a technological application that allows citizens to report throughout the day “everything they see, everything they hear”, as proposed by the president.
Capriles warned that streaming live content through social networks could contribute to “increasing the climate of anxiety in the country.”
The opponent described the idea as alarming: “This is absurd. A ‘toad’ application to increase the climate of anxiety in the country. More anxiety, more economic crisis; more anxiety, less investment in the country; more anxiety, more political conflict. Incredible, truly, that we have to continue in this situation”he expressed.
Capriles also warned about the potential misuse of the tool to make complaints motivated by personal or neighborhood conflicts.
“Imagine this in a community: a neighbor dislikes the neighbor in front of him. They have never gotten along and have had differences. (…) So are you going to ‘sape’ (report) him in this application? Is this the peace we want to build in the country?”questioned the politician, who has been a presidential candidate twice.
The application Capriles talks about
Maduro had proposed the creation of this app with the participation of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB)and proposed that it be integrated into the VenApp systema social network launched in 2022 to channel citizen complaints about everyday problems such as failures in public services.
In addition to the FANB, Maduro pointed out that They should also be involved in the development of the application the Communal Militia Units and the Popular Comprehensive Defense Bases.
In August 2024, Amnesty International denounced that the government had urged the use of VenApp to identify and report protesters who rejected his re-election after the July 28 elections, in which Maduro was proclaimed the winner, despite the fact that the main opposition coalition considers the results fraudulent.
“Apparently, after Maduro’s re-election was announced, it has been reconditioned with additional functionality that allows those who use it to report protesters”the organization detailed in a report.
This new proposal arises in a context of growing tension with the United Stateswhich maintains a naval deployment in the Caribbean Seanear Venezuelan territory, under the argument of combat drug traffickingwhile the government of Caracas interprets it as a “threat” to bring about a “regime change” and “appropriate” the country’s resourcesespecially oil.
