For more than twenty years, NED has supported Venezuelan citizens and civic organizations working to defend their rights, preserve civic space, and sustain democratic possibility amid one of the hemisphere’s most repressive regimes. Venezuela’s political, economic, and humanitarian collapse has accelerated as the Maduro government tightens its grip through fear, censorship, and strategic alliances with Cuba, China, Russia, and Iran. More than eight million Venezuelans have fled the country, creating one of the world’s largest displacement crises and destabilizing regional and economic security. In the wake of the falsified results of the July 2025 elections, NED reaffirmed the commitment it has upheld for more than two decades: supporting Venezuelans’ aspirations to have their votes respected and to secure a credible, democratic path forward.
NED’s Venezuela portfolio focuses on strengthening the civic infrastructure that allows citizens to defend their rights, hold officials accountable, and participate safely in public life. This work, led by 42 organizations totaling more than $5.5 million in FY2025*, combines the distinct expertise of NED’s four Core Institutes (IRI, NDI, CIPE, and the Solidarity Center) with direct grantmaking to local civic groups.
Together, these efforts reinforce peaceful, democratic avenues for civic participation. They also provide the long-term, institution-strengthening support that authoritarian regimes cannot easily suppress. Across the country, NED partners are driving measurable gains in five critical areas.
Exposing the Regime’s Autocratic Nature and Crimes
Venezuelan human rights organizations have built the evidentiary backbone for international accountability efforts. They have documented arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killings, and politically motivated prosecutions—evidence that has informed the work of the UN Fact-Finding Mission, the International Criminal Court, foreign governments, and civic groups.
NED partners have also uncovered the Maduro regime’s ties to transnational criminal networks, including narcotrafficking routes and illicit financing operations involving organizations such as Hezbollah and Colombian armed groups. These investigations have shaped targeted sanctions and legal actions against officials implicated in corruption, organized crime, and human rights abuses, exposing the system of repression sustaining the regime.
Breaking the Information Blockade
Despite severe censorship and state-controlled media, independent outlets have become essential conduits of dependable information. Venezuelans rely on these platforms to understand their rights, access verified reporting, and counter official disinformation.
During the July 2024 election, this independent information ecosystem proved indispensable. NED-supported media reached more than 50 million viewers globally—and 20 million Venezuelans—helping citizens navigate a moment marked by intimidation, internet shutdowns, and manipulated narratives. Their reporting increased transparency, empowered citizens to document abuses, and helped ensure the world understood what was happening inside the country.
Supporting United Democratic Forces
A defining challenge in Venezuela has been to preserve unity among democratic actors. NED-supported organizations have invested in long-term coordination efforts that help civic, political, business, labor, and community actors work across geographic, ideological, and sectoral lines.
These strategic coordination efforts played a critical role in the 2023 democratic opposition primary, which saw more than 2.4 million Venezuelans participate despite threats, logistical barriers, and surveillance. By creating shared spaces for strategy and information exchange, NED partners helped democratic actors articulate common goals, align approaches, and sustain cooperation throughout the 2024 presidential election period. This effort helped Venezuelans document and expose the massive fraud that the regime orchestrated to remain in power.
Enabling Peaceful Civic Participation
NED’s support reinforces the democratic infrastructure that allows citizens to participate safely and meaningfully in public life. Civic organizations provide voters with nonpartisan information, monitor electoral conditions, document irregularities, and defend fundamental rights.
These efforts strengthened both the 2023 democratic opposition primary and the July 2024 election. NED’s support adhered to its statutory mandate: helping improve the fairness, transparency, and accessibility of the political process, not supporting any candidate or partisan campaign. Even under repression, citizens mobilized in extraordinary numbers, demonstrating civic resilience and the enduring desire for democratic choice.
Protecting Those on the Frontlines
Authoritarian pressure escalated dramatically after the 2024 elections, with heightened surveillance, arrests, intimidation, and reprisals against journalists, activists, and community leaders. NED partners responded with urgent, nonviolent assistance—including safe houses, medical and legal support, and psychosocial care—to ensure that those defending democratic space could continue their work safely.
This protection network is critical to preserving civic life in a context where repression is designed to extinguish participation altogether.
Why This Matters
A democratic Venezuela is essential to regional stability, economic security, and the rule of law. Despite profound hardship, Venezuelan citizens have refused to relinquish their rights or their voice. Their courage, and the measurable gains achieved through years of steady, strategic civic work, demonstrate that democratic possibility endures even under the harshest repression.
NED remains committed to supporting their efforts to expand civic space, uphold human dignity, and preserve the foundations of democratic life. Venezuela’s struggle is not only about one nation—it is reshaping the future of freedom across the hemisphere.
* This total reflects NED’s discretionary grantmaking and that of the Core institutes in FY2025.
Images are for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect an official NED endorsement or affiliation with the content.
