Her hair is pulled back, her skin is tan and her dress a burnt orange color. He wears a beard, his skin also tan and his shirt has the pattern of a checkerboard. They look like they’re in their 20s and speak with slight Venezuelan accents.
At first glance, they could pass for two young journalists presenting a news video, but their repetitive cadence and robotic movements give them away: they are two avatars narrating news that has been reported and written by a dozen independent media outlets across Venezuela.
“We were created by artificial intelligence,” the man says. “But our content is real, verified, high-quality and created by journalists.”
This is how “El Pana” and “La Chama” introduced themselves in the first video of the online newscast Operación Retuit, an initiative from news collaboratives Venezuela Vota and La Hora de Venezuela created to circumvent censorship, persecution and growing repression that has plagued Venezuela since July 28 elections.
Some of the headlines in their first eight newscasts: “Thousands detained in electoral protests,” “implications of anti-NGO laws,” “Maduro suspends X,” “23 dead in protests.”
According to some of the creators who spoke to LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) anonymously for fear of reprisals, they named the series Operación Retuit because in Venezuelan slang, the word “Retweet” means sharing content on social media. It’s also a response to “Operation Tun Tun,” the term the government has used to describe police raids on homes and arrests of opponents.
Since elections, at least seven journalists in the country have been detained, according to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS Venezuela). Some have been released, while others are still detained without the right to a defense and are charged under anti-terrorism laws.
“The level of exposure that a journalist might face when conducting an interview or live broadcast in Venezuela has increased,” Carlos Eduardo Huertas, director of the Latin American journalism platform Connectas and promoter of the newscast, told LJR. “That’s why this new alternative was decided on.”
Huertas was chosen as the spokesperson for the initiative to protect those who are in Venezuela. He is not Venezuelan and does not live in the country.
Venezuelan journalists behind the newscast told LJR they feel more protected by not showing their faces and names while the situation in the country stabilizes. Unlike other similar initiatives in Latin America, Operación Retuit is not intended as a technological experiment.
“We are witnessing an intelligent and strategic use of AI,” Huertas said. “It’s not just a trend or accessory.
Operación Retuit is produced by two independent news alliances: Venezuela Vota was created by the digital outlet El Pitazo to cover the election, and includes 70 independent journalists, 20 journalist apprentices and 20 citizen reporters across the country. And La Hora de Venezuela is an alliance of Venezuelan and Latin American outlets covering the election, led by the regional news platform Connectas.
Both initiatives have remained active to cover the post-election process, characterized by protests, repression and measures that have restricted freedom of expression.
For example, on Aug. 8, President Nicolás Maduro announced he was temporarily blocking the social network X (formerly Twitter). He also threatened to block WhatsApp, the most widely used instant messaging app in Venezuela, and encouraged people to download WeChat, a tool not recommended by digital rights advocates.
According to Huertas, Operación Retuit is part of the strategy to hack the information blockade.
The newscast is being published every weekday. “There is not just one publication channel,” Huertas said. “That’s part of the strategy; it’s a format that can be multiplied across different channels.
He said collaborative work has been essential for forming alliances.
“The key role here is that of the Venezuelan journalists who have done exceptional work,” Huertas said. “We are just honored to have been invited to facilitate the collaboration.
This is not the first time AI-generated avatars have been used to disseminate news in Venezuela.
In early 2023, a newscast in English with Spanish subtitles, called House Of News en Español, was posted to YouTube. In it, two virtual journalists, Noah and Daren, talked about a new economic boom in Venezuela.
Spain’s El País newspaper reported these videos were part of propaganda promoted by the Chavista regime. Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Freddy Ñáñez denied the claim.
A few weeks later, Maduro introduced Sira (a name resembling Apple’s virtual assistant Siri, a video host who would narrate the news on his television program Maduro +.
Marivi Marín Vásquez, a political scientist and executive director of ProBox, a Venezuelan media observatory and member of La Hora de Venezuela, told LJR that the difference between these Chavista-promoted avatars and Operación Retuit is the intention.
“The regime creates them to spread propaganda or disinformation to pollute online conversation,” Marín Vásquez said. “Operación Retuit is (verified) information from independent media, except we have to use avatars to protect the identity and integrity of journalists/ activists.”
