The Twitter account of the pro-opposition blog “In Venezuela,” appears to be run from Toronto, Canada and the field news source is run by a Bellingcat member, Giancarlo Fiorella. The “open-intelligence investigation network” Bellingcat is infamous for its biased reporting and forwarding the mainstream media narrative. Its connections to the Institute of Statecraft and its pet project the Integrity Initiative are also not a secret.
This was initially found by Twitter user Geroman:
LOL pic.twitter.com/RTcp0gBM7y
— – GEROMAN – ?? – ?? – (@GeromanAT) January 28, 2019
#Bellingcat runs #Venezuela opposition op?!? pic.twitter.com/Uq648UMhOV
— Malinka?Tanya P (@Malinka1102) 28 January 2019
In the comments, some users suggested that the Venezuela Opposition field news account is similar to many of “patriotic Syrian accounts” based in Tel’Aviv, Israel.
We have seen so many Patriotic Syrian accounts in the Past, operating from Tel Aviv ??
— Ali Naqvi (@alinaqvi11011) January 28, 2019
Probably, there’s nothing to worry about, since the Twitter account is based in “Venezuela’s Time Zone.”
Maybe they meant "In Venezuela's Time Zone"?
— Mike Jasinski (@jasinskm) January 28, 2019
Other comments called out Twitter users who initially claimed to be “in the reality of it,” in Venezuela, starving and lining up for 5 hours for a loaf of bread, while a comment several days earlier claimed the same person was living in an apartment in Paris and studying Fashion.
As well as a user who pointed out an interesting dynamic – the richer class are always Westernized and speak English, while the poorer class need to be translated from Spanish. More often than not, the report contains “no-one speaking Spanish.”
Starving in my Parisian flat because of the monster Maduro. pic.twitter.com/AsvfppqmfC
— Dosadian (@Dosadian) January 24, 2019
Regardless, it should be reminded Bellingcat published numerous pieces claiming that non-Western backed governments were gassing protesters and using over-the-top violence against them. So, reports claiming that protesters are being targeted by live rounds could possibly follow shortly.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Integrity Initiative launched an operation to combat “Russian disinformation” in Venezuela, and the Institute for Statecraft sent some representatives to organize some open lectures on fighting “fake news.” Or rather, how to spread them and propagate the MSM narrative and cause even further hysteria.
