The Government Conspiracy Theory to Silence Internal Critics: Luis Carlos Díaz

When authoritarian regimes claim they are under attack by powerful external enemies, those enemies usually have nothing to fear; instead, internal critics of the regime are the real target of conspiracy theories.

Leading journalist and human rights activist Luis Carlos Díaz was reported missing by his wife Naki Soto, also journalist and writer, at 5:30 pm Monday. “I lost contact with Luis Carlos at 5:30 in the afternoon, when he told me that he would be working all night at Union Radio, from 10:00pm to 5:00,” first informed Naki Soto via Twitter (@Naky) yesterday. All night the top trend in Venezuela’s social networks has been #DóndeEstáLuisCarlos.

On March 8, Diosdado Cabello had published a video showing Luis Carlos Díaz explaining what people should do in the case of a black out. The caption of the video reads “Luis Carlos Díaz. Fascistoid ‘influencer’ 02/27/2019.” The Twitter post (@ConElMazoDando) by which the video was published reads “This is who de local right and the gringa right prepared what they called ‘operation blackout’ which aims to collapse the country by sabotaging the generation operations center of the National Electric System, of which most public services depend.”

The last Twitter post by Luis Carlos Díaz (@LuisCarlos) cast doubt over the government’s explanations about the blackout: “They no longer say it was one attack. Not even two attacks. No. The new count is five (5) consecutive attacks against the electric system, according to government officials. This is the hyperinflation of excuses.”

Tuesday early morning director of Efecto Cocuyo, Luz Mely Reyes (@LuzMelyReyes) reported that Luis Carlos Díaz is in the hands of the SEBIN, political police. She also reported that his residence had been raided by the police.

Indeed, as Luis Carlos Díaz commented in his last Twitter post, the government is now claiming there have been at least 5 attacks against the electric system since Thursday.

Update (03/13/2019)

Journalist Luis Carlos Díaz was released late night of March 12. He has been conditionally released pending his trial and will have to report to court every 8 days. He may not leave the country nor declare to media about the case. He is being accused of “instigation to commit crimes.”