Venezuelan police officials use the phrase “sin lloradera,” (“no weeping”) to imply that when the police target members of the opposition, no amount of resistance will make a difference. Screenshot via YouTube user CNN en Español. Fair Use.

This article was published in ProBox on August 28, 2024. It is the first of a three-part investigation titled Digital Terror, about repression in the Venezuelan electoral context, made in alliance with Digital Democracy Institute of the Américas and DFRLab. This is an edited version republished in Global Voices under a media partnership agreement.

On Tuesday, July 30, about 48 hours after the Venezuelan regime-backed National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner of the July 28 presidential election, Maduro announced the National Armed Forces and the police would patrol streets and neighborhoods looking for citizens who were part of the “Comanditos” (i.e. the grassroots sympathizers of the opposition campaign), electoral witnesses, opposition party representatives and the electoral operation volunteers. Maduro termed the Comanditos “violent commando groups,” claimed they were “criminals for hire,” and announced “members would be arrested.”

Maduro’s announcement prompted “Operación Tun Tun” (“Operation Knock Knock”), a slander, doxxing, and fear-mongering campaign targeting members of the opposition with harassment, persecution,  and arbitrary detention.

One of Operation Knock Knock's dehumanizing videos of detainees. The highlighted comment is by Diosdado Cabello, stigmatizing voters and protesters: “A curious fact about the terrorists captures destabilizing the country: most of them didn't vote. What's the point of protesting if you're not going to vote?” Screenshot by Probox. Used with permission.

Recent presidential elections in Venezuela that resulted in Nicolás Maduro being declared the winner with a contested 51.20 percent of the votes sparked a wave of outrage and protests both in Venezuela and abroad. Venezuelan citizens and the international community rose up against what many consider to be blatant fraud. Rather than de-escalating the crisis, the regime moved to intensify repression both online and on the streets.

Read more: Post-election repression in Venezuela: Authorities target human rights defenders and humanitarian workers

The online campaign of Operation Knock Knock was primarily driven by official social media accounts affiliated with the Maduro regime (especially the military forces): supporters and proxy media outlets. Of note was the role of Diosdado Cabello’s personal X and Instagram accounts and the ones from his TV program “Con El Mazo Dando” (“With the Gavel Hitting”) in leading the amplification and distribution of the hashtag #OperationTunTun on social media. Cabello is one of Chavismo's high-ranking politicians who has vowed to pursue government opponents, and was recently appointed Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, a position focused on overseeing Venezuelan police forces. 

The campaign played out in nearly all social media platforms and was also detected on WhatsApp and Telegram public channels.

Regime-backed doxxing: Old tactics, new platforms

Operation Knock Knock is, in a way, a massive doxxing campaign, sponsored by the Venezuelan regime, by creating content that mocked and exposed citizens who had criticized Maduro online or took part in protests. These posts depicted how the detainees were made to record videos “apologizing” and stating that they had been “manipulated.” The videos frequently included the hashtags #ComanditosDelTerror (#LittleTerroristCommandos) and #ElPuebloQuiereJusticia (#ThePeopleWantJustice).

Doxxing is the practice of collecting and revealing an individual's personal information without their consent, often with the intent to harass, threaten, or harm them.

X users doxxing and using the #OperaciónTunTun hashtag to flag dissidents. Some X posts went so far as to respond to opposition posts with the tag to “mark” those posting anti-government content. The post reads: “Sebin go knock on this terrorist's door” Screenshot by Probox. Used with permission.

They utilized clips or audio from horror movies such as “Saw” and “Chucky” over videos of the detained being transferred to detention centers, in their cells, and in line with other detainees to instill fear in the general population.

The regime’s repression of the opposition movement in Venezuela combines hard methods (arbitrary detentions, torture and extrajudicial executions) and soft methods (such as the dissemination of frightening videos through official social media accounts  or the massive annulment of passports).

The General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), and the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Action  (DAET) are security corps that have been denounced by multiple human rights organizations as the main repressive arms of the Maduro regime. These forces are being investigated by the ICC for crimes against humanity. In addition, the United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela has pointed them out for being responsible for arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, and torture, including sexual violence and gender-based violence.

The director of Laboratorio de Paz, Rafael Uzcategui, argues that since July 28 there has been a qualitative and quantitative transformation of the mechanisms of control and coercion, and with it, on the patterns of  violations of human rights in Venezuela.

Coincido con la apreciación de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos acerca que el conjunto de prácticas se constituyen en terrorismo de Estado, en donde la difusión del temor masivo y generalizado intenta inhibir y neutralizar el ejercicio de derechos civiles y políticos.

I agree with the assessment of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that this set of practices constitute state terrorism, where the dissemination of massive and generalized fear attempts to inhibit and neutralize the exercise of civil and political rights.

On August 2, the DGCIM announced on its Instagram account the opening of a hotline for reporting citizens who were part of the opposition grassroots. Although the post was later deleted for violating Meta policies, it raised alarms among journalists and human rights defenders about the implementation of snitching channels using messaging platforms like WhatsApp to make anonymous reports, leading to the persecution of protesters and critics of the regime.

Several TikTok accounts, including one associated with DAET of the Bolivarian National Police, posted  videos with messages like “DAET Venezuela without truce” and “Operation Knock Knock.” The DAET Cojedes state official account also shared information about Operation Knock Knock. They used the phrase “sin lloradera,” or “no weeping” to imply that when the police target members of the opposition, no amount of resistance will make a difference.

Between July 29 and August 19, ProBox registered at least 128 accounts on X doxxing in the recent repressive Venezuelan context. And, although X was the platform where more content of this type was identified, 11 accounts on TikTok, 4 on Instagram and 2 on Facebook also stand out.

A video from Operation Knock Knock on El Mazo Dando, Diosdado Cabello's TV show. They use clips or audio from horror movies such as “Saw” and “Chucky” to instill fear in the general population. The post reads: “Keep your fear, in this country peace will reign”.  Screenshot by Probox. Used with permission.

Around 40 videos from the accounts of the regime, the security corps and other users showed people being detained and then self-incriminating on camera after participating in protests against Maduro. Some accounts also shared memes mocking the detainees. Other videos showed social media posts against Maduro or the regime’s agencies, followed by videos of the alleged authors being arrested.

It is important to clarify that this type of confession does not exist in the Venezuelan Organic Code of Criminal Procedure (COPP), nor is it mentioned even once. As explained by the NGO Access to Justice, detailing that the video recordings presented as evidence of crimes, do not comply with legal or constitutional precepts, nor are they “admission of facts.”

Operation Knock Knock was also widely broadcast on state television channels like Venezolana de Televisión (VTV). Proxy fringe outlets  also distributed this content, a typical amplification  strategy in the Venezuelan regime toolkit.

Operation Knock Knock  complements other repressive measures undertaken by the regime to silence online criticism. Over the past weeks, the Venezuelan authorities have blocked X and Signal. Maduro announced his intention to ban  access to WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok.