Overview
- Nicolás Maduro directed the creation of a VenApp module for citizens to report “everything they see and hear” at all hours, announcing the plan on state TV.
- The initiative is framed as a territorial defense measure that will connect reports to the armed forces, communal militias, and Bases Populares de Defensa Integral.
- Government ministries have not provided technical, legal, or oversight details on how the system will work, and media requests for clarification have not been answered.
- VenApp was launched in 2022 to log public-service problems, and Amnesty International later warned it was used to denounce opponents after the disputed 2024 election.
- Authorities deny repressing protesters that year, saying about 2,000 people were detained for violent acts before reviews led to hundreds of releases, while the new order comes during heightened tensions with the United States over a naval presence in the Caribbean.