Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

Venezuela has officially rolled out a new app that encourages citizens to report suspicious behavior, conversations, or activities to the government.

Getting into it: During a nationally televised address, Nicolás Maduro announced that the app (an updated version of the existing VenApp platform) would serve as a 24/7 tool for “popular intelligence,” enabling Venezuelans to inform authorities of anything they “see, hear, or read” that could be considered suspicious or disloyal. Originally launched in 2022 to help citizens report problems with public services like electricity and water, VenApp has now been reengineeredinto a surveillance mechanism directly integrated with the country’s national defense infrastructure.

Maduro instructed the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), along with the Communal Militia Units and Popular Bases of Integral Defense, to assist in its rollout and operation, framing it as a civic duty and a “defensive mechanism for peace.” He argued that the app must become a frontline tool in the nation’s internal security strategy, saying it should be used to “report everything, without exception, 24 hours a day.”

Maduro also insisted that citizens should act as extensions of the state’s intelligence apparatus, particularly in neighborhoods, workplaces, and public spaces, where acts of dissent or “enemy infiltration” might occur.

This all comes as the United States has significantly ramped up its military presence in the southern Caribbean, just off Venezuela’s coast. These assets include nine US warships that are already operating in the area, with a full carrier strike group en route. In addition, advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets, air-to-air refueling tankers, radar systems, and surveillance aircraft have been deployed.