Venezuela’s lost voice: How the state is closing down on dissident technologies

• In Event: "Exit, Voice and Loyalty:" How State and Power Dynamics Impact the Development of Media Systems and Concepts of Participation

Abstract

Once regarded as a possibility to bypass state censorship, Information and Communication Technologies are increasingly becoming instead instruments for surveillance and control. No truer this than in the case of Venezuela where the regime is rapidly developing strategies to use ICTs to further its grip on Venezuelan society. By now the Venezuelan government, despite being in a dire financial situation, has launched its third satellite. Moreover, and advice by Cuba, the Venezuelan authorities are building a media infrastructure that would be the envy of any authoritarian regimes of the past while furthering its hegemony over the traditional media landscape. One of the key objective, as discuss here, is the construction of a distinctive imaginary of nationhood, one that can help the regime circumnavigate its current economic foes and hold to power for as long as it can.

Author

• Jairo Lugo-Ocando, University of Leeds