Since last year, shortly before the presidential elections on July 28th, Venezuelans have experienced an emotional change characterized mainly by the fear of expressing any type of opinion, no matter how insignificant it may seem. This fear has been instilled by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which through the repressive organs, has been in charge of persecuting citizens, either for a publication on their social networks, for denunciation by a neighbor (the feared “cooperating snitches”) or for a comment in some instant messaging group such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
By: Correspondent lapatilla.com
This situation has worsened after the fraudulent electoral process, where the CNE declared Nicolás Maduro the “winner” without showing the official voting records that supported those “results.”
After the repression in the days following the elections, the perception among citizens is one of terror, and the regime has taken it upon itself to sow this fear by imprisoning or kidnapping people. They arrest someone and days, weeks, and even months can pass without their families knowing their whereabouts. Forced disappearance constitutes a serious violation of human rights, and in the case of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro’s regime has systematically applied it as a strategy of social control.
With the so-called “tun tun operation”Venezuelans have censored themselves: they avoid publishing any image or comment in their WhatsApp statuses that is critical of the regime, as well as expressing their opinion in groups of friends or neighbors, where through a screenshot someone can report them to the authorities. ,” ‘Tun tun ¿Quién es?’ is the chorus of one of the most beloved Christmas carols in Venezuela. Tun tun is just knock knock. Even Maduro himself, in one of his many television speeches, asked his followers to use the “Ven App” (a government developed phone app) to denounce the neighbors who dare to speak out against his government.
Clinical and social psychologist Yorelis Acosta defines fear as a basic and universal emotion that, to a mild or moderate extent, has positive effects, because fear alerts a person to a situation that they perceive as dangerous. However, when fear is intense, sustained and uncontrollable, it has extremely negative consequences.
“These effects can range from physical consequences because fear can paralyze us, it blocks us from action, but we will also feel physical symptoms such as sweating, increased heart pressure, tachycardia and, in general, consequences that are very unpleasant and, therefore, the person associates feeling fear with something unpleasant. Then there are also subjective consequences, and it is that feeling of ‘I don’t like to feel fear’, because it can become an exaggerated concern and I have no control over myself or my thoughts when I am afraid,” explains the psychologist, who is also the research coordinator of the Center for Development Studies at the Central University of Venezuela (Cendes).
A terrified society
Fabiana, a fictitious name to protect the identity of an interviewee for this report, says that it is very difficult to explain the feeling of collective fear that is felt especially after the elections. She points out that fear generates a lot of anxiety and doubts that have led her to self-censorship, since every time she wants to publish something on her networks, fear invades her and she refrains from posting.
She states that her fear of expressing herself is that someone who is in favor of Chavismo might read her message or might misinterpret something and accuse her of being a conspirator and a terrorist, which are the most common crimes that the regime usually accuses someone who criticizes the Chavista elite.
“I blocked many people who are in favor of the government that I have in my contacts. Why? Because I was afraid that they would see my messages and somehow make a complaint against me. People that I esteem, people that I consider, but who are also followers of Chavismo. It is clear that they defend Chavismo more than anything else, and the fear that for some reason they might feel affected by some publication in my status, motivated me to block those people from my main WhatsApp chat,” said Fabiana, who is an entrepreneur in design art.
The Cendes researcher believes that a fearful society suffers short- and medium-term effects. A terrified community tends to have fewer interpersonal relationships, less sense of belonging and community. In the opinion of the specialist, the social fabric is broken, there is no belief in leadership, there is less cohesion, there is distrust of others, of institutions and, finally, social participation decreases.
For Fabiana, the fear she has felt in recent months has forced her to rethink several issues such as, for example, how to leave her house, whether it is better to stay locked up, what to do when she has to go out and delete all information from her phone, including audios and videos.
Like many Venezuelans, she has configured her WhatsApp chat settings so that messages are automatically deleted after 24 hours. She also comments that many people she knows do not want to receive information related to current politics and, in other cases, many people left the groups where news were usually shared.
“I left some groups, and I was kicked out of others. So, there is always this uncertainty of not knowing how to act. What do I do? Do I leave or not leave a group? Do I leave my house or not? Or should I go to another house? My phone? In my case, my phone is my work tool, which is also what helps generate income, because it is where one sells one’s things and moves on,” Fabiana says.
She adds that on the emotional side she has been greatly affected, as she has felt heart palpitations caused by the anxiety and terror she has suffered. She says that she has cried a lot to, in some way, “get relief from so much pressure.” She says that fear is not only felt by her, but also by her family, where there is always someone who tells her ‘be careful, do not publish that. ’
“With all that, fear has also generated an approach to prayer. One always prays, and we, the majority of Venezuelans, are praying and asking for blessings. One prays for one’s family, friends and all those people who are being persecuted or arbitrarily detained. I understand fear as something that makes you go forward, that paralyzes you or that makes you go backwards. And I think that all of that has happened to me,” says Fabiana.
It is necessary to seek help
When you experience levels of fear like those explained at the beginning of this report, you should seek specialized help. That is what social psychologist Yorelis Acosta recommends, because when you have the support of a specialist, he or she will help you identify and manage your emotions, as well as learn to recognize the symptoms or consequences of constantly feeling fear, since he or she will provide the tools to control that fear.
“A specialist is someone who will help you learn to control those consequences, the physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms of fear so that that emotion does not paralyze you and you are able to reduce these symptoms, and in this way act with greater thought. Hence the importance of seeking help, analyzing what is happening to us to identify the symptoms of anxiety and having strategies that aim to better manage calm, such as conscious breathing,” Acosta explains.
When asked if the current emotional state of Venezuelans can influence the failure of the political changes that the majority of the population wants, the specialist believes that citizens are building a new theory, since this thesis indicates that when there are intense levels of fear, it paralyzes the collective, but that is not what she has seen as an expert in Social Psychology. Despite the terror instilled by the regime, she has observed high levels of participation, even when there is a high probability of arrests, which can translate into forced disappearances.
“We see that people continue to go out into the streets to express their opinions peacefully and as held up by human rights conventions and the Constitution, which support the right to due protest, to peaceful protest,” she specifies.
Alarming figures
In the middle of last year, a psychosocial study carried out by the School of Psychology of the Andrés Bello Catholic University revealed that 9 out of 10 Venezuelans present some degree of mental vulnerability. The alarming data indicate that 37% of the population perceives collective fear, 20% suffers moderate or high levels of anxiety and depression, while 89% distrust others.
The results revealed by Psicodata 202 show that diffuse collective fear, hopelessness and distrust, the scarce social support perceived from public institutions, anxiety and depression, constitute the main factors that are negatively impacting a sizeable part of the population.
However, the study showed that the majority of Venezuelans are resilient, perceive themselves as optimistic, claim to have their family support in difficult times, rely on religion, feel that they have personal control, want to participate in social activities and are satisfied with their own lives.
Beatriz V., who is a housewife, says that after the fraudulent presidential elections, upon learning of many people who were unjustly arrested just for protesting, she has stopped sharing information with her contacts. She also referred to the many journalists who have been arrested just for reporting, which she considers a “great injustice.”
Although she has two of her three children outside of Venezuela, they continually ask her to delete all WhatsApp messages and avoid making comments against the regime in messaging groups. At over 65 years of age, she says she has never experienced a situation like this in which Venezuelans are so afraid to express themselves.
Venezuelans who resist
For psychologist Acosta, the strength of Venezuelans is admirable, because in the midst of complex situations, they have resisted and continue to move forward. She recommends that these emotional states should be identified and, in the midst of adversity, positive emotions should be encouraged. If possible, avoid and learn to discard or control catastrophic anticipatory thinking.
“We should not think about things like ‘it is not possible, something is going to happen to me’, but that we can change that thought and that has consequences in other scenarios where we also feel that there is a lot of negativity and pessimism. We then have to learn to be optimistic and emphasize that Venezuelans, despite all the adversity of this long history of conflicts, tension and polarization, people continue to insist on democratic and peaceful paths,” Acosta points out.
Fear has taken root in Venezuelan society, but hope continues to flourish. Despite repression and uncertainty, citizens are demonstrating admirable resilience, seeking ways to express their discontent and yearning for a more just and better future. The fight for freedom and democracy continues, and the international community has a fundamental role to play in supporting Venezuelans on this difficult path.