A new target for Nicolas Maduro. The Venezuelan president called on Monday, August 6, for a boycott of WhatsApp. The latter claims that military personnel and local officials defending his highly controversial re-election have received “threats” via the instant messaging application.
“Say no to WhatsApp! I will break relations with WhatsApp, because WhatsApp is used to threaten Venezuela,” Nicolas Maduro declared during a rally in the center of Caracas. “So I will delete WhatsApp from my phone forever. Little by little, I will move my contacts to Telegram, to WeChat,” he continued, calling for the “voluntary, progressive and radical” withdrawal of the application, owned by the American company Meta.
“Through WhatsApp, they threaten the Venezuelan military family, the police family, the street and community leaders,” continued the Venezuelan president, while at the same time, the Venezuelan Ministry of Communication immediately transferred the WhatsApp group of foreign correspondents to the instant messaging service Telegram.
Maduro had also denounced the day before that social networks were used to promote “division” and “hatred” between Venezuelans and had directly pointed to Instagram and TikTok. “I accuse Instagram of being responsible for installing hatred to divide Venezuelans, to seek a massacre and a division of Venezuela, to bring fascism to Venezuela,” he said. Without forgetting of course his violent exchange of words with Elon Musk, the boss of the social network X (ex-Twitter).
Tensions that persist
Tensions are still not easing in Venezuela, where the opposition, which claims victory in the presidential election of July 28, called on the army, a pillar of power, to side “with the people” in the crisis opposing it to Nicolas Maduro, declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
“We appeal to the conscience of the military and police to side with the people and their own families,” wrote opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia in a joint statement. Hoping to sway the army to their side, they promised “guarantees to those who fulfill their constitutional duty” while repeating that they have “irrefutable proof” of the victory of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had replaced Maria Corina Machado as candidate at short notice, after she was declared ineligible.
Enough to immediately attract criminal prosecution by the public prosecutor for “usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information, incitement to disobedience of the law, incitement to insurrection, criminal association”.