Tony Franji-Mawat

I just headed out of my home and took the elevator.

I felt it moving and then moving really fast.

So at first I thought it was malfunctioning, but then my friend who was with me told me that it's probably an earthquake.

And we just hoped for the best, and I started to pray.

I just saw the parking lot of the whole building just moving from side to side, and everything was shaking.

The government said that during a moment of rising of what they describe as imperialist actions against Venezuela and has moved towards trying to contain both external and internal threats.

The government created this app so people could put public claims on problems and services.

But last year, after disputed elections where overwhelming evidence shows that the government actually lost to the opposition, the app was used by the basis of the government to snitch and report on neighbours that were protesting or were participating in opposition activities.

The government said that during a moment of rising of what they describe as imperialist actions against Venezuela and, of course, of tensions with the increasingly close relationship between the U.S.

government and the opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize,

The government has moved towards trying to contain both external and internal threats through control.

So it's also happening in a moment of rising paranoia from the authorities.

For example, a week or two weeks ago, we saw that a group of hikers were detained for more than 24 hours because they had a badge of a U.S.

flag on their backs.

That kind of stuff is happening within Venezuela and the government today announced that because of the possibility of CIA covert actions, as President Trump announced a few days ago, they would be looking for suspicious activities and infiltrations within the country.

And of course, to find any possibility of the opposition doing some sort of clandestine organization within Venezuela.

We have to understand that this is limited to a very political, very loyal, yet very small base of government supporters.

On last year's election, it's estimated that the government only got around

Less than 40% of the vote or around that number.

And it's usually from clientelistic networks they tend to mobilize.