Maduro’s forces search for ‘Trump’ on people’s phones as repression grows in Venezuela

Amanda, a young worker at a tech accessories store, was terrified last week when six police officers stopped her and her boyfriend as they drove on one of the main avenues of the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo.

That night, the uniformed officers did not seek to verify the car’s registration documents. Instead, they demanded to search the couple’s cell phones, even though they didn’t have a warrant.

One of the officers seized their four phones, entered the direct messaging applications WhatsApp and Telegram, and typed four keywords into the search engine: “Maduro. Trump. Sex. Drugs.” Nothing compromising appeared in the chats.

“We had a very bad time. They held us for about 15 minutes and, after checking our cell phones and our bags, they let us go,” the young woman told the Miami Herald, asking that her last name not be used for fear of retaliation from the authorities.

The searches of the private communications of citizens by police and political and military intelligence agents on the streets of Venezuela have been denounced by human rights defenders as illegal ever since the massive protests over last year’s presidential elections.

But the warrantless searches appear to be multiplying as tensions grow between the governments of Nicolás Maduro and President Donald Trump after the vast deployment of U.S. warships and troops in the Caribbean Sea, amid accusations from the White House that the Venezuelan leader is head of a drug cartel.

On the main streets and avenues of Venezuelan cities such as Maracaibo and Caracas, the capital, there are checkpoints and patrols of armed agents who check belongings, vehicles, computers and cell phones of whomever they decide to detain, while the government warns of a coming war.

A law enforcement source familiar with the checks of phones and private communications told the Herald that security agents search for keywords to find out if the suspect is involved in some kind of political crime, such as being in favor of a U.S. attack or invasion.

“They put words like ‘Maduro, Trump, invasion, drugs, marijuana, pornography’ in that search tab. If you speak badly of the government, you get into trouble,” at risk of going to jail or being extorted, the law enforcement source said.

That level of surveillance seeks to “impose fear” on citizens, but also reflects the Venezuelan government’s own concern about how popular discontent, now silent, could be expressed and orchestrated through private communications, according to political science expert Guillermo Tell Aveledo.

“Protests and social organization have been almost completely inhibited,” the professor of political studies in Caracas said “The police and military apparatus tries to silence this [and] people withdraw from the chats. They do not comment on anything political.”

Domenico, 30, a tech salesman and shopping mall security guard, told the Herald that he was “kidnapped” for two hours by three police officers in late November when he was riding his bicycle on his way to deliver one of his products to a customer.

The uniformed officers thoroughly reviewed his conversations and photographs on WhatsApp and Telegram on his cell phone for no less than an hour and a half, he said, asking that his last name be withheld for fear of his safety.

“I felt humiliated. It was a bitter time,” he said.

Article 48 of Venezuela’s Constitution guarantees “the secrecy and inviolability of private communications in all their forms” and warns that they can only be interfered with by order of a competent court.

More arrests, convictions

Civil organizations critical of Maduro’s government have reported new politically motivated arrests since August, when the massive deployment of U.S. military forces to the Caribbean began.

In October alone, there were 54 arrests for political purposes, according to the Venezuelan human-rights group Provea.

In the past three months, the government has arbitrarily detained or carried out enforced disappearances of dozens of members of opposition political parties, associations of retirees and pensioners, trade associations and union leaders.

The Conference of Workers of Venezuela denounced this week the arrest of its general secretary, José Elías Torres, by the Bolivarian National Police, a key loyalist part of the Maduro government.

William Lizardo, secretary of an organization that defends the rights of workers in the construction sector, was also arrested in Valencia, about 100 miles from Caracas. There are 16 union leaders in prison, according to the workers’ union.

A civilian committee promoting the release of political prisoners in Venezuela also reported the enforced disappearance of 2015 parliamentarian-elect Fernando Orozco and several members of his family in the state of Miranda last month.

Last week Rafael Tudares, the son-in-law of former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for allegedly conspiring against Maduro’s government, according to his wife, Mariana González.

Last month a 65-year-old Venezuelan doctor, Marggie Xiomara Orozco Tapias, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having sent an audio message on WhatsApp to a group of neighbors encouraging them to vote against Maduro, blaming him for the country’s economic crisis.

Pattern of repression, noises of war

Maduro’s government is executing a new phase of the “pattern of repression” that began in the framework of last year’s elections, according to Venezuelan sociologist and expert in contemporary political processes Juan Manuel Trak.

The authorities seek to “discourage, dismantle and generate fear in the population” to avoid an important social and political mobilization that could threaten their stability at a time of “high tension” with the United States, he said.

The situation in Venezuela is further complicated by the volatility of the exchange rate, the high prices of goods and basic products, and the precariousness of salaries and bonuses for millions of workers in the public sector, Trak said.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado called for a protest on Saturday in Venezuela and in 20 other countries “for peace and freedom,” just days before the upcoming delivery of her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

In an article published in The New York Post, Machado denounced that Venezuela is governed by “organized crime in power, armed and financed by the enemies of the United States” and that it controls the territory “through fear, torture and the systematic destruction of the democratic pillars of the nation.”

Maduro, whom Trump administration spokesmen describe as an “illegitimate” ruler, has accused the United States of allying with its opponents to overthrow him by military means and has promised to remain “loyal” to his political project.

Trak, for his part, stressed that Maduro reinforces his “pattern of instilling fear” in Venezuelan society as part of a strategy “so that there is no important internal social mobilization in this context of pressure.”

“It is not so much paranoia, but a strategy of repression that seeks demobilization, fear, self-censorship of society, both political groups and social and union organizations,” he said.

Both Maduro and Trump have confirmed that they spoke by phone days ago, but did not share details of what they discussed. The Venezuelan leader said Wednesday that the talks took place in “a tone of respect” and declared himself open to dialogue.

Trump refused to assess the call, reiterating that “very soon” U.S. attacks on drug cartels inside Venezuela will begin, after more than 20 strikes against boats at sea.

“You know, the land is much easier, and we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too”, Trump said.

Meantime, Maduro claims he has a large enough military arsenal and millions of fighters in his favor to avoid being forcibly removed from power by Trump or by his opponents.