Maduro innovates his communication strategy for elections in Venezuela

The huge lobby of the Humboldt Hotel, high in the mountains of Caracas, was silent. Inside, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had just scolded his top officials to spring into action. "Why don't you give me likes and retweets? It costs you nothing." "The new generation doesn't watch television. We have to innovate. All of you, leaders, take note and do it today," said the president -- who is seeking a third term -- during a televised meeting on May 16. Around him, his vice president, ministers, and other top officials frantically took notes or nodded in silence. "We're going to do it so you can see how we win the people's communication battle," he said. The orders are just one facet of Maduro's effort to flood Venezuelans -- especially the country's youth -- with endless hours of content that aims to transform him from one of the world's most notorious despots to someone harmless, charismatic, and likable. He has a three-hour variety show. A singing contest. An animated series. A weekly podcast. Carpool-karaoke style interviews. Viral TikTok videos. A WhatsApp channel. All of this is quite unusual for a president. But, after stabilizing an economy that had been in freefall for years, Maduro is trying to renew his image inside and outside the country. It is a critical moment to do so, after openly violating an agreement promoted by the United States to hold free and fair presidential elections on July 28. He disqualified the opposition primary winner, María Corina Machado, prevented her original replacement from running, and issued 15 arrest warrants against her collaborators and allies. Maduro remains convinced he can defeat Edmundo González, the latest opposition candidate, despite his 20-point lead in the polls. If Maduro manages to convince Venezuelans of his more docile personality, he could divert attention from his government's brutal repression of dissidents, widespread public service failures, general poverty, extrajudicial executions, and United Nations accusations of "crimes against humanity." Achieving this could be key for Maduro to at least appear to have a legitimate victory, particularly after severely repressing the opposition in recent months. "Maduro has to scrape votes from wherever he can," said Andrés Cañizález, associate researcher at the Andrés Bello Catholic University. "For that strategy of achieving legitimacy with these elections, he needs people to go out and vote, for those who will vote for him to go out and vote." At the moment, an invitation to the European Union has been revoked, and no other credible entity has confirmed it will observe the election. Their participation is considered crucial for the United States to endorse a result, complicating potential relief from oil sanctions, the country's main export product and source of income. It could also prevent Maduro's access to the nation's funds abroad, including $2 billion in gold stored in the Bank of England. For Maduro's critics, all of this is just an attempt to whitewash the image of an oppressive leader who caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the modern history of the Western Hemisphere. They also believe that, while he would prefer to win through conventional means, he has backup plans to cling to power at all costs. "He presents himself as harmless, plays dumb," said Venezuelan professor and political consultant Carmen Beatriz Fernández. She referred to a video that went viral a month ago in which Maduro sent a message to U.S. President Joe Biden in poor English. Now there are hundreds of TikTok videos of users using, commenting, or ridiculing his statements. "It's a bit like 'look how bad my English is'," Fernández said. "In the end, if you mock someone, you don't consider them a threat, it somehow manages to send a softened message." Authoritarian leaders have long tried to soften their images. The late Cuban President Fidel Castro sometimes played in baseball and basketball games. In 2010, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the stage at a charity event in front of American celebrities and sang his own version of "Blueberry Hill." Clips of both performances circulate frequently on social media. But Maduro's multichannel communication strategy has amplified his audience in a different way, allowing people inside and outside the country to actively engage with him and express their opinions in real time. Collaborations with influencers have resulted in some of Maduro's posts garnering over 11.5 million views on TikTok, where comments from his 1.9 million subscribers often read: "I hate that it makes me laugh," or the recurring: "I'm afraid that if I keep watching, I'll start to like him." It's a far cry from the live television program of the late President Hugo Chávez, which could last up to eight hours. Maduro can be everywhere, all the time. It speaks to how propaganda has evolved through social media. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has become a major figure on TikTok and Facebook, where he defends his political views and boasts about his tough crime-fighting tactics. While he is not seeking to soften his image the way Maduro is, he used to refer to himself as "the coolest dictator in the world." Among Latin American leaders, Maduro's followers on Facebook and TikTok are only surpassed by Bukele and by leaders of much more populous countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. Eliud Baudin, a 36-year-old rapper from Caracas, appeared in one of Maduro's viral posts. Baudin said the president's van passed by him when he had a flat tire, and the president offered to help. He said he took the opportunity to propose the idea of a bike park on the outskirts of the capital called La Fuga. The government funded it, and the 160-hectare park opened on May 11. "Maduro is humanizing himself, being an ordinary person," said Baudin. "He's not trying to be young, he's an adult trying to understand young people, he's approachable." A slimmer and more agile Maduro, 61, has been touring the country after years of confinement in the Miraflores Palace, jogging on hot days, jumping on cars to greet his supporters, crowd-surfing, and dancing in musical numbers. He attributes his weight loss to the "paleolithic" diet and green smoothies. Of course, social media is a logical place to find Venezuela's younger generation. And the country's demographic data shows why Maduro is targeting them: The 7.7 million Venezuelans who fled the country's economic collapse were mostly of working age. This left behind the middle-aged and elderly population, who saw their wages and pensions plummet, and the nation's younger generation, who are now coming of voting age. "The new generations have no reference for what democracy was, they don't know, they have no comparison," said Jesús Castellanos, political scientist and former official of Venezuela's electoral authority, now based in Chile. "They don't have as much wear and tear, they are potential clients or followers." However, Maduro cannot make the daily reality facing his population disappear. Nearly eight out of ten Venezuelans live in poverty and do not have the means to buy essential food, said UN envoy Michael Fakhri in February after visiting the country, emphasizing the hunger and malnutrition he witnessed in children, women, and the elderly. While the presidential campaign does not officially begin until July 4, Maduro has already increased public spending by 80% from January to May, to $1.5 billion monthly, compared to the same period in 2023, according to economist Tamara Herrera, director of Síntesis Financiera. In May, Maduro raised the monthly income of public workers to $130, the first significant increase since 2022. Meanwhile, the monthly costs of food for a family of four are approximately $550, according to the Caracas-based research group Cendas. He is also trying to convince young people that they can enjoy a normal life by building at least 100 spaces dedicated to them. The first was inaugurated in early March in the western state of Falcón and features 36 hectares of paddle courts, skate parks, playgrounds, and trails. During this year's Easter holidays, Maduro simultaneously sponsored "Mostacho Fest" -- named after his iconic mustache -- where hundreds of young Venezuelans enjoyed free performances by famous local singers on beaches and other outdoor spaces. Of Venezuela's 28 million citizens, over 21 million are registered to vote in the July elections, according to the latest figures from the electoral authority. Not all will be able to vote. Only Venezuelans residing in countries with diplomatic relations with the Maduro government can vote from those countries. Those in places like the United States or Canada can travel to vote, but most do not have the means to do so. Those who fled Venezuela's harsh economic conditions faced the greatest obstacles in registering to participate in the upcoming elections. During the recent voter registration and data update day in the electoral registry, there was little staff and few machines amid other irregularities at embassies, according to the organization Mi Voto Cuenta. While around 500 Venezuelans abroad were able to register and another 6,000 were able to update their personal information in the electoral authority's system, the nonprofit organization estimates that around 4.5 million Venezuelans have been prevented from participating in the presidential elections. Meanwhile, Maduro is focusing his efforts on people who directly benefit from his government, those most likely to vote for him. Sources actively involved in nongovernmental efforts to enable voter registration say the Maduro administration has made voter registration a requirement for those seeking to enter Chamba Juvenil, a program that provides access to subsidies and job opportunities for young people. They also said registration has been a requirement for those seeking a spot to study at the Bolivarian University of Caracas, to open an account at a state bank to receive subsidies, and to enter military service. Another problem Maduro has to deal with is political apathy. Young Venezuelans have become demotivated to participate after years of anti-government protests that failed to overthrow Maduro, along with a series of elections considered fraudulent by international observers, said Castellanos. Most are focused on surviving or seeking better options outside the country. Even protests have decreased, with a 56% year-on-year reduction in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict. In an effort to boost electoral participation, Voto Joven recently organized a soccer cup with cash prizes. The only requirement was that participants show they were registered in the electoral registry. That wasn't enough. "I registered to be able to play, I'm not very interested in voting," said Alejandro Puente, a 23-year-old musician and social work student. "Everything is already arranged, rigged," he said about the elections in Venezuela. José Yépez, a 21-year-old Communication student at the Catholic University of Caracas, knows he is a rarity within his generation. While most of his friends are not registered in the electoral registry, he registered as soon as he turned 18 and has already voted once, he said. "I don't follow Maduro on social media, but I search for him," said Yépez. "What he does on TikTok is interesting, the podcast. They may be nonsense, yes, but he's doing it, no one has that level of production." Meanwhile, the opposition faces extreme restrictions on campaigning. Machado was banned from appearing on local television networks or national radio stations, where presenters are warned not to mention her or other opposition leaders by name. Doing so is punished with sanctions or even station closures. Access to her party's website is blocked from the country. Sometimes, the venues where Machado holds meetings or speeches are subsequently closed or threatened by authorities, she has stated. Signal blocks and power outages often disrupt her scheduled appearances. Venezuelan audiences have been subjected to a bombardment of government-sponsored content, and limited to it, for almost two decades. This has allowed Maduro to at least appear to have public approval, whether real or not. In the episode of his TV show on April 29, Maduro said that, although there would be more surprises on social media "because we are innovating all the time," it was not enough.