Page 16 - Preliminary Report on the Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Crisis in the Region

Obtaining a homeland card, therefore, implicitly means an affiliation to the ruling party in order

to access social services.

Secondly, there is increasing evidence that the regime is using the homeland card to exert
direct control over the population. For example, numerous testimonies say that the homeland

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card has been used to check how citizens voted in the 2017 and 2018 elections. It is thought
that there were “red points” outside polling places on the election days to verify if carnet
holders turned out to vote. In fact, on April 28, 2018, Nicolás Maduro announced his intention

to reward those who registered at “red points” with their homeland card after casting their

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ballot on May 20. Reports indicate that several carnet holders received text messages from
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Nicolas Maduro thanking them for their support.

The most revealing evidence of the use of the homeland card as a social control tool was

documented in an extensive article by the Reuters international news agency on the subject in
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November 2018. The article documents the role of the Chinese telecommunications company
ZTE Corp, which the Venezuelan regime hired for US$70 million to build a database and create a

mobile payment system for use with the homeland card. ZTE is known for developing

technologies used in the smart cards issued as part of a “social credit system” by the

Government of the People’s Republic of China, which grades citizens based not only on their

financial solvency, but also on their political activity. Poor grades can result in a ban from using
public transport or the expulsion of family members from certain schools. ZTE is also known for

providing services and equipment to authoritarian governments in countries such as Iran and

North Korea, including systems to spy on their citizens’ communications.

31 Avendaño, Shari. “Colas para verificar el carnet de la patria son más largas que para votar en Caracas,”
Efecto Cocuyo, December 10, 2017, http://efectococuyo.com/politica/colas-para-verificar-el-carnet-de-la-
patria-son-mas-largas-que-para-votar-en-caracas/.
32 Broner, Tamara Taracuik y Rafael Uzcátegui. “Rehenes del hambre en Venezuela,” The New York Times, May
14, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/es/2018/05/14/opinion-taraciuk-uzcategui-rehenes-hambre-
venezuela-elecciones/.
33 Berwick, Angus. “How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control,” Reuters, November 14, 2018,
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-zte/.
34 Berwick, Angus. “How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control,” Reuters, November 14, 2018,
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-zte/.

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