Venezuela Maduro citizen reporting app surveillance
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is urging citizens of his country to use a revamped mobile application to report “everything they see and hear” amid what he describes as escalating threats of a U.S. attempt to remove him from power.
According to several news outlets, the Venezuelan government has expanded the functionality of the app known as VenApp originally launched years ago for reporting utility problems so that it now serves as a mechanism for citizens to notify authorities about suspicious people or activities, in the name of national defence.
Maduro framed the change as part of a broader effort to raise “popular intelligence” and maintain public order while citing growing diplomatic and military pressure from the United States. He explicitly ordered the integration of the app with the country’s armed forces and communal militias.
Critics say the move raises serious concerns about privacy, freedom of expression and the stifling of dissent. Human-rights organisations warn the system could be used for political persecution and social control rather than genuine security measures.
While Maduro presents the initiative as defensive and necessary given external threats, its implementation deepens the state’s capacity to monitor its own population and to co-opt citizens into surveillance. The development underscores how internal policy and national security rhetoric are increasingly intertwined in Venezuela’s political climate.
