ASTROTURFING AND THE PERCEPTION OF HUMANITARIAN

JOURNALISM.

Simulations in public opinion of Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela about the

Bolivarian exodus1.

Edney Firmino Abrantes2.

Abstract

The astroturfing, object of this work, is a sensible tactic in communication, almost

imperceptible, which tries to maneuver information and knowledge, in order to achieve
maximum effectiveness in handling public opinion. The research aims to show the
impact that manipulation through the media and by the Governments of Brazil,
Colombia and Venezuela, with respect to the mass migration of Venezuelans, as well as
to check how this conflict of information between media and the Governments of the
three countries crashes. The diaspora of Venezuelans heading for Colombia if exhausted
after a large number of people join in Colombian territory, having the country created
protection mechanisms to prevent a worsening of the exodus. In Brazil, the
concentration of Venezuelans in Roraima, in the neighbouring town of Pacaraima, a
municipality of small structure that does not meet conditions to offer an amparo worthy
refugees installed in the streets and squares of the city, creating an immigration crisis
dangerous, with exploitation of slave labor and crime of xenophobia. In Venezuela,
opposition and wage a war of information to support each to your narrative. The
expansion of the phenomenon converges with the data published by the Agency of the
United Nations Organizations for refugees, Acnur, beyond the bounds of acceptable,
understanding of experts. In the three countries, the astroturfing configures a veritable
army of simulations, which mobilizes the public and deconstructs – according to the
interest of each – the image of rulers, communication groups and think tanks, among
others. The article shows how humanitarian journalist understand this range of
simulations by exercising their journalistic activities in the field, together with the
consequent problems of the diaspora. The methodology will be applied to understanding
how method. The authors Boaventura de Sousa Santos, who fights for the
democratization of knowledge and Hanna Arendt suggesting the idea of the "common",
both manifest themselves around the proposition of resignifications that occurred in
common sense with the possibility humanitarian journalists. This confluence among the
authors makes there the possibility of the emergence of the construction of a fair and
balanced world to all, regardless, of the existence of the Bolivarian humanitarian crisis
that has enormous repercussions in the countries of South America, specifically, in
Brazil.
Keywords: Astroturfing; Latin America; understanding, scientific method.

1
Study presented at event IV Seminar Brazil-Colombia of Studies and Practices of Understanding, held
from November 11-14, 2019, at the Methodist University of São Paulo-UMESP.
2
Lawyer and Political Scientist. Master in Humanities from UNISA and PhD student in Social
Communication from UMESP. Visiting teacher at the School of Communications and Arts, University of
São Paulo-ECA/USP, in the discipline production of persuasive texts. Author of the book: "Construction
and imagery deconstruction of politicians in election campaigns. Publisher Lumen et Virtus".
Resumo

O astroturfing, objeto deste trabalho, é uma tática sensível na comunicação, quase

imperceptível, que tenta manobrar informações e conhecimento, de forma a se obter o
máximo de eficácia na manipulação da opinião pública. A pesquisa pretende mostrar o
impacto dessa manipulação por intermédio da mídia e dos governos de Brasil, Colômbia
e Venezuela, no que tange à migração em massa de venezuelanos, além de verificar
como esse conflito de informações entre mídia e os governos dos três países se choca. A
diáspora de venezuelanos rumo à Colômbia se exauriu depois de um número elevado de
pessoas ingressar em território colombiano, tendo o país criado mecanismos de proteção
para evitar agravamento do êxodo. No Brasil, a concentração de venezuelanos se dá em
Roraima, na cidade limítrofe de Pacaraima, um município de pequena estrutura que não
reúne condições de oferecer um amparo digno aos refugiados instalados nas ruas e
praças da cidade, gerando uma crise de imigração perigosa, com exploração de mão-de-
obra escrava e crime de xenofobia. Na Venezuela, oposição e situação travam uma
guerra de informações para sustentar cada qual a sua narrativa. A ampliação do
fenômeno conflui com os dados publicados pela Agência das Organizações das Nações
Unidas para Refugiados, a Acnur, ultrapassando os limites do aceitável, na compreensão
de especialistas. Nos três países, o astroturfing configura um verdadeiro exército de
simulações, que mobiliza o público e desconstrói – de acordo com o interesse de cada
um – a imagem de governantes, grupos de comunicação e think tanks, dentre outros. O
artigo mostra como o jornalista humanitário compreende essa gama de simulações
exercendo suas atividades jornalísticas em campo, acompanhando de perto os
problemas consequentes da diáspora. A metodologia aplica terá a compreensão como
método. Foram utilizados os autores Boaventura de Sousa Santos, que luta pela
democratização do conhecimento e Hanna Arendt sugerindo a ideia do “comum”, sendo
que ambos se manifestam em torno da proposição de ressignificações ocorridas no
senso comum com a possibilidade de extensão aos jornalistas humanitários. Essa
confluência entre os autores faz com que exista a possibilidade de surgimento da
edificação de um mundo justo e equilibrado a todos, independentemente, da existência
da crise humanitária bolivariana que tem enormes reflexos nos países da América do
Sul, especificamente, no Brasil.

Palavras-chave: Astroturfing; América Latina; compreensão, método científico.

Thanks to CAPES for providing us with the possibility of conducting this research, as a result of
the scholarship granted.
Introduction

Astroturfing is a kind of sensitive strategy in communication where illegitimate actions

are articulated and executed aiming at non-republican situations that impact public
opinion through manipulation. The term evolved and went from mere handwritten
letters by countless people imbued in the same interest to expand with the advent of the
internet and adjacent technologies.

For REZENDE (2018) currently this phenomenon is triggered in various media,

including on the Internet, incurring the risk of affecting various social sectors, be it civil
society formed by non-governmental organizations, the Market composed of companies
state consisting of government representative bodies.

Although astroturfing is triggered in several sectors, it is in the political field – whether

internal or external policy – that it has been used more frequently, because it is in this
that decision-making is made to the point of impacting society as a whole, see the
Decisions on the theme of the diaspora.

The weakest nations suffering from voracious capitalism and their inequalities provided
by wars, financial and economic imbalances, and the overlap of hegemonic countries to
their detriment end up having the atmosphere of their society Impaired.

Major crises are brought about by the intense search for interests of powerful nations
that subdue small nations with official and unofficial movements. The search for the
exploration of natural and mineral resources, such as oil extraction are factors that
instigate the overlapping of power. These actions often become the motto for the exodus
of peoples.

It is noted that there is diaspora in Syria as a result of the civil war between groups, on
the African continent also for similar reasons, but always with the declared or not
participation of great powers that feed and back feed these conflicts.

In Latin America it is no different, crises are customary. Some countries on the

continent are constantly in internal conflict. Tensions between civil groups happen all
the time, just check out the numerous Coups of State that have occurred in recent times,
such as in Chile, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil. Situations like these occurred by
interests that covered ideologies, natural resources and minerals, oil among others that
affected power, with the participation of powerful nations, as in the case of the Cold
War between the United States and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, in
which Cuba was one of the protagonists.

It is not only the power that is the true trophy in this frantic pursuit of clashes between
the nations of large and small size, but also the fierce and indomable capitalism that
hides like a smokescreen to achieve its most disgusting goals. There is no voracious
capitalism without the economic and financial imbalance of a country, without the fiscal
imbalance, without social inequalities between classes. Venezuela currently goes
through notorious internal and external crises. The arm wrestling between situation and
opposition evolves negatively. The opposition expresses itself that the power of the
Maduro administration is based on the strength and imposition of rules, supported by
much of the Armed Forces, where it makes a point of deterling and sustaining its
position as legitimate and democratically elected government.

The opposition, led by Mr. Juan Guaidó, thinks and acts inversely. He speaks that the
Maduro government is a dictatorship and holds power illegitimately, because it has
defrauded the presidential elections and is in the national administration illegally. This
movement has a smaller share of supporters of the Armed Forces, mainly from the
second and third levels, as well as the majority of members of the National Assembly.
The United States and Brazil reportedly support the opposition and Russia and China
the situation intending the Bolivarian social fabric beyond its limits.

This clash between situation and opposition often takes place in the streets and public
squares and violence is used with intensity. Poverty and inequality increase rampantly
and in parallel, crime such as thefts and thefts grows across the country. Trade looting
takes place daily. Finally, international pressure either by the major powers or by bodies
linked to the United Nations-UN is it is common and repetitive making the crisis a
pressure cooker about to explode.

With the outbreak of all these concomitant problems, there is no option for the
Venezuelan people but to adhere to the fighting movements, whether to one side or the
other, or to practice the exodus to neighboring countries, as part chose. In this case,
Colombia and Brazil are the nations preferred by this transient population, because they
are borderline in their currencies.
Several internal crises have been triggered while involving the search for power in
Venezuela. Hunger, misery, very high violence with alarming rates are relevant factors
to be observed, already externally, crises in international relations with the United States
and Brazil are latent, and may even trigger wars armamentists to force the Maduro
administration to collapse.

But the humanitarian crisis that is taking over in Venezuela is the most important, as it
is indeed and of emergency law. There are a large number of Venezuelans threatened,
either by the Maduro government or by guaidó's opposition. These people need external
aid from extraordinary resources to prevent a real catastrophe as a result of food
deprivation, very serious health risks, epidemics among others.

It is well known that other Latin American countries were also the fate of the diaspora,
such as Chile, Peru and Ecuador, but the concentration of this article will take place in
Colombia and Brazil due to the theme of the IV Brazil-Colombia Seminar on Studies
and Comprehension Practices carried out in the Brazil, specifically, at the Methodist
University of São Paulo-UMESP.

In relation to the Venezuelan exodus to Colombia, there was a decrease, but it was
intense, and forced the Colombian government to make sudden changes. In Brazil, there
was an intense exodus to the border city of Pacaraima, in Roraima, The Northern
Region, which did not support the number of Venezuelans because it is a city with
fragile social infrastructure, causing chaos, such as poor health care, education,
education, housing and unemployment.

Finally, there are numerous practices of astroturfing by Colombian, Brazilian and

Venezuelan governments and the press about the exodus, each simulating news and
information according to their interests, often without portraying the reality of the
diaspora. Do humanitarian journalists understand the humanitarian crisis by following
the facts and carrying out their activities in the field of observation or are they also
influenced by the phenomenon?

Astroturfing: Evolution and definitions

The term astroturfing appears in the United States of America, through his intellectual
mentor, Senator Lloyde Bentsen3, who belonged to the Democratic-partisan political
3
He was a Senator for the U.S. state of Texas where he was affiliated by the Democratic Party from 1971
to 1993. He pleaded for Michael Dukakis' United States vice presidency, both losing the election to
framework of Texas, between the years 1971 and 1993, where he became known as the
inventor of the nomenclature, term, moreover, according to the Senator himself, was
created to baptize the pressure from several companies in the field of life insurance,
who sent him letters by the post office with calls to favor the interests of the respective
sector in Congress and american media, with the aim of the politician lobbying to
prevent legislation from affecting them negatively.

Then, the Senator went on to note that the letters he received were from different
citizens, but that at the same time, they brought in its content similar messages, which
led him to distrust his real legitimacy by commenting on the following: "a Texas people
can tell the difference between grassroots and Astro Turf... this is correspondence
created" (RUSSAKOFF; SWARDSON, 1985).

This made him make comparison between the two terms: grassroots (or grass roots), a
name that gives us social movements, and astro turf, designated as a certain brand of
synthetic grass, therefore artificial, that appears to be real, and arising in the mid-1960s.
With this, the Senator concludes that the such letters sent to him by the post office by
different American citizens were not spontaneous but directed, which was characterized
a maneuver in an attempt to simulate support, to some extent popular, to guarantee the
cause of insurers.

Undeniable that after this discovery by Senator Lloyde Bentsen, the term objected was
absorbed by the American political vocabulary, because of numerous complaints about
the use of its practice, linked to several other sectors, in addition to the political policy,
such as in the performance of the Public Relations industry (STAUBER; RAMPTON,
1995), as well as on the internet and social media (MONBIOT, 2010; 2011).

Thus, the astroturfing movement had a concept fixed after years of its practice with the
following sayings: "practice involving the manufacture of public support in relation to a
given point of view, through the use of uninformed activists or intentionally
(CAMPAIGNS ELECTIONS REVIEW, 1995), as well as another concept was exposed
by media professionals with the following meaning: "lexical term meaning that means
the dissemination of information created by an airtight organization, which uses
George H. W. Bush in 1988. In 1994 he also served as Secretary of the National Treasury of Bill Clinton's
administration. Source: Houston Cronicle. Former democratic Sen. Lloyde Bentsen die. May 23, 2006.
<https: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3882583.html="">Accessed on 07/12/2019, at
22:03min.
endorsement institutions in society for this achievement." (KOLIVOS; KUPERMAN,
2012).

In this conceptual line, SILVA (2013), conceptualizes astroturfing saying that the
phenomenon works with the idea of simulating an audience, that is, with the attempt to
create the impression that there is an audience supporting a certain positioning or
opinion. The simulated audience, in this sense, is something created to have the
appearance of an audience in fact, is an imitation of an audience. At certain times,
however, it is possible that people who have no knowledge about the artificial nature of
that audience join it, mobilize and start to express their opinion together with that
simulated audience.

Astroturfing then appeared in the 1960s through letters scattered across several U.S.
states, which lobbied4 in defense of health plans at the time. Its expansion spread to the
communication of the public relations industry that manifested themselves in weight in
the market among large corporations.

In almost three decades since the emergence of the term

astroturfing as a way of designating manifestations of simulated
audiences, a fundamental factor for increasing 17 recognition
and the repercussion on the subject is the relationship between
such practice and public relations industry. This link has been
built and fostered by a series of complaints about how some of
the world's largest agencies in such an area employ astroturfing
in campaigns in favor of large corporations and governments
(SILVA, 2013, p.17

The market is a war of advertisements, information and news where conflicts between
brands and large corporations wage the consumer's search according to their desires and

4
The term lobby is defined within the scope of political science as influence in a given policy-making
procedure, in accordance with guidance and interest, whether social or economic. The word is translated
into the Portuguese language as a corridor, before room or lobby, which place is the part of public access.
Another meaning applied to the term is to be a pressure activity to groups, whose objective is to interfere
in their decisions, usually due to particular favors and favors of specific groups. The interpretation of this
concept to the meaning of the word occurred due to language being used in political activity. Source:
https://novaescolademarketing.com.br/comunicacao-corporativa/afinal-o-que-e-lobby/. Accessed on
07/12/2019, at 11:35 pm.
needs. To do so, it was, until then, a game of everything worth and that gradually was
being regulated, specifying, rules as ethical parameters.

The phenomenon has occurred before and began to run after the elaboration of these
standards. With the evolution of communication turbocharged by technology,
astroturfing ceases to be exclusive to operate in the Market and starts to act strong in the
public fields. Public relations are intensifying to the point of influencing the population
to support the interests of public institutions.

For SILVA (2013) in 1995 the phenomenon began to gain greater relevance in the
public scene. Stauber and Rampton helped speed up this process by demonstrating what
several public relations agencies of the time called "PR grassroots", an area of activity
that became increasingly popular at that moment and supposedly dealt with the attempt
to winning popular support for causes advocated by organizations, often did not go from
astroturfing, thus consisting of practices that manufactured the appearance of public
support that previously did not exist. In fact it impresses the growth of the phenomenon
over time.

He acted through letters in the 1960s, expanded to the Market of large private
corporations in the search for the consumer and later, to public and institutional
relations, impacting public opinion with the influence of information and news of
according to their interests, permeated by technological and broad development.

The Internet and its digital platforms were preponderant factors for the transformation
of communication, growing absurdly, increasingly being an instrument for issuing
catalyst messages of the public. With the advent of social networks, messages issued are
received in real time and globalized. Information sharing and news are overwhelming,
being a typical seara of insertion of astroturfing to impact public opinion on a colossal
scale.

Astroturfing has definitely become part of the vocabulary of the

internet with the advent and popularization of so-called web 2.0. A big
factor for both lies in social media, understood as those in which
people, –through technology and policies on the web share opinions,
ideas, experiences and perspectives" (TERRA, 2011, p. 2), which
results in the possibility of an increase publication of opinions
(RECUERO, 2009). Virtually all today's websites are imbued with
social media resources and their own spaces for users to comment on
the content – in fact, current sites go further: not only open spaces for
 participation but also, during all the time, they actively encourage
engagement and ask for the opinion of users, even if it is sometimes a
condensed opinion in the form of a "like" or "share". By allowing
individuals to publicly expose and defend their views, the internet
gave origin to a differentiated configuration of public opinion and
opened a range of new collaborative possibilities and political
participation (SILVA, 2013, p.28).

In this sense, the internet and social media are a propitious field for the practice of the
phenomenon, because, user individuals relate virtually, do not require face-to-face
exposure to discuss, debate, share, information, news and fake news that may harm or
benefit people and or groups. It is no different in the political space, where pre-
campaigns and election campaigns use communication structures and digital platforms
of the internet as bases for attacks between pre-candidates and candidates, being fertile
the practice of astroturfing.

This strategic niche of sensitive communication has definitely migrated to the political
field. Its techniques were inserted in this space in order to simulate public support
influencing the public itself in internal and external decision-making.

The traditional lobbying is made with the influence of professionals representing large
corporations with the public sectors to make decisions of interests of these pressure
groups, but the communication triggered and developed a sensitive strategy of influence
of the public resulting in the impact of public opinion through an artificial tactic, now
called astroturfing.

Americans are the most assiduous in the enterprise of the phenomenon in politics.
Grassroots5 are the movements that create information and news to impact public
opinion through artificial creations influencing the nation's internal and external
decision-making.

In walker's (2007) view grassroots occupy political spaces because they know that the
American population has serious mistrust of their politicians. Skepticism prevails
among Americans. In political spaces, grassroots work with discourses, precisely, to
5
Location or person to person. A typical grassroots effort may include a door-to-door education and
research campaign. It includes political, educational, artistic and especially collegiate movements
involving ordinary people as constituting a fundamental political-economic group. Source:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=grassroots. Accessed on 07/13/2019, at 10:42 pm.
dominate these fields and fill these spaces. This openness to these movements was due
to the civic change of the American population in recent times that altered the behavior
of the people.

These spaces are also filled because of the removal of the population from political life,
facilitating the influence of these movements in political decision-making. Once the
phenomenon would be defined, we began to manifest its relationship with
communication, its various forms of action, its ethical ambiguity, its line bordering
reality and unreality and the impact of its practice by influencing public opinion by
concealing, information and news in the field of internal and foreign policy.

Manipulation of public opinion by astroturfing

In communication, the relationship between sender-receiver is very complex. The

simple manipulation of large press vehicles of individuals or groups to which this
belonging is not so easy to happen. Today's advanced technologies make it difficult to
domination by themselves. It is a tool that needs strategies so that this power can be
realized.

Another obstacle to the realization of domination is also in vogue as ideological

bubbles. It is hardly those who have the ideological spectrum of left or right do not
allow themselves to be influenced so easily, because they already have their ideals of
representation and conviction and interpret according to these lines of reasoning.

There is another possibility of exercising manipulation, i.e. CHOMSKY (2013)

mentions in his book "Media. Political propaganda and manipulation" that Lippmann
describes democracy as a power exercised by classes, where there are two groups, one
of specialized citizens who administer, analyze and execute decision-making and the
other, the remnant of the population. This is considered by him as the disoriented herd,
where his functions are, that of spectator, without participation of the actions and at
times transfer his support to someone from the specialized class through elections and
voting.

Regardless of the ideological spectrum of individuals, advanced technologies and class

divisions brought by Lippmann in Noam Chomsky's explanations, ignorance is a
relevant factor.
 And there's logic behind it. There really is a kind of imperative moral
principle behind it. The imperative moral principle is that most of the
population is simply too stupid to be able to understand things. If you
try to participate in the administration of your own interests, it will
only cause inconvenience. For that reason, it would be immoral and
inappropriate to allow you to do so. We must domesticate the
disoriented herd, prevent it from dragging, trampling and destroying
things (CHOMSKY, 2013, p.17-18).

Reinforcing what Noam Chomsky claims in his work on Farias ignorance (2019)
mentions what opinion is construction, it must come from the process of debate,
dialogue. It is present in every human being, even if not all societies allow their free
expression and movement; after all, full freedom is defended in some moments, in a
costumed way, as an expression for superiority, for inequality, going into shock,
sometimes with the notion of equality.

And when it comes to public opinion, its construction is not always fully constructed,
with the possibility of citizens who have ample capacity for access to information and
freedom for criticism. In addition to the impact on public opinion by manipulation
through ignorance, the flood of fake news is trivial today. Post-truth is a facilitating and
stimulating element for unorthodox practices of common sense logic.

In recent years, with the "professionalization" of fake news – in a

society in which the organization of enunciators and these intended
purposes, in the activity of fake writers, and of wide consumption of
these perfidious products by fake readers is increasing and with the
critical inthesium – and with the definitive presence of the post-truth,
the theme became even more tense (FARIAS 2019, p.19).

That said the sensitive strategy of astroturfing parades intensely in the media in order to
co-opt public opinion through manipulation. This is due to people's ignorance. The mass
is infected by individuals co-opted by the logic of those who do not know the proposed
subject, by those who do not have educational instruction, by those who do not take into
account what is spoken or do not know it because they think it is not in their interest.

Astroturfing certainly fits in this trend of manipulation of public opinion by the guiding
thread of ignorance and other points described. It is a strategy to circumvent the
obstacles of the issue-reception of messages co-opting the individual or the group to
which it belongs impacting the mass, simulating practices that appear to be supposed
public support to deceive their own public.

Propaganda still remains an effective means in obtaining mass manipulation. The

phenomenon hitches a ride in this ballast when the interest of the media or government
or both guide public opinion to bring to the knowledge of the population one or more
issues that supposedly holds the support of spectators, simulating an Acceptance.

It is in the political space that astroturfing has a more virtuous presence. In addition to
being a fertile field because it is more emotional than rational, where passions flow and
contaminate individuals quickly, lead public opinion to be deceived by information and
internal and external news emanating by the media to the point of masking interests that
deceive the public by shaking the mass.

For REZENDE (2019), it is believed that astroturfing is present in the movements and
virtual social manifestations carried out by groups in the midst of sectors of society,
strictly in the political class that, enjoy the support of profiles whose origin is dubious,
robots, untrue news, and violence of any kind, with the purpose of coercion public
opinion in favor of shady interests.

With regard to humanitarian journalists, is it possible that they do not visualize the
practice of the phenomenon, even if they are in full activity in the fields of work? And
those who can visualize, how do they assimilate and understand astroturfing? And those
who visualize most are adept at the practice of the phenomenon? How do Colombia,
Brazil and Venezuela and its media and governments see the issue? How can they be
identified? To what extent does their practice affect the internal and external political
decision-making of these Latin American countries?

The Venezuelan diaspora: as it is seen and reported by the varied social and
government sectors of Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia

With chaos triggered in Venezuela, the humanitarian crisis is more than any reasonable
limit. The economic fragility added to rampant inflation has been set in the country a
real civil war. Groups of the situation and the opposition were divided in the search for
power.
The population is between these two blocks and suffer the negative consequences
imposed on it. The crisis is intense and affects almost 10% of the Venezuelan
population trying to take refuge in other neighbouring countries.

The vulnerability of this part of the population suffers from disrespect to human rights,
repression of protests, and impunity for abuses of power, the absence of judicial
independence, and the humanitarian crisis initiated according to the World Report 2019
of the United Nations-UN, specifically Human Rights Whatch.

Venezuelans and Venezuelans face a severe shortage of medicines,

medical supplies and food, seriously compromising their rights to
health and food. In 2017, Venezuela's Ministry of Health released
official data for 2016, indicating that in one year maternal mortality
increased by 65%, infant mortality increased by 30% and malaria
cases increased by 76%. Days later, the minister was fired. Since then,
the government has not published epidemiological bulletins. The Pan
American Health Organization reported increasing numbers of
patients with diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, measles and
diphtheria. By 2016, measles and diphtheria, which are preventable
with vaccination, had been eliminated in Venezuela. The estimated
proportion of children under five who suffer from moderate or severe
malnutrition increased from 10% in February 2017 to 17% in March
2018 in Caracas and several states, according to Caritas Venezuela.
Caritas reported that the average dropped to that the average fell to
13.5% in July, but the numbers were significantly higher in Caracas
(16.7%) and in the state of Vargas (19.7%). A 2018 national survey
conducted by three prestigious Venezuelan universities found that
food insecurity plagued 80% of Venezuelan households, and that each
of the interviewees had lost an average of 11 pounds in 2017 6.

There is no alternative for those who do not want to ally the situation or the opposition but to
escape this hecatomb. Millions of people decided to leave the country to try to end this
suffering. There is not enough food to support the population, there is no health to serve sick
people, there are no jobs to dignify the feelings of the people, especially the nation have chosen
to direct their finances and political economy on the oil company, failing to produce another
type of wealth.

6
https://www.hrw.org/pt/world-report/2019/country-chapters/326452. Accessed on 20/07/2019, at
21h43min.
Therefore, the Bolivarian exodus is a source of international prominence. There are versions
with different views, which are exarated by different media, governments and segments of
organized civil society. Each one sustains its information and news, according to its perspective
of interests, even though it has journalism professionals from different communication vehicles
that act directly in the diaspora crisis.

In Brazil

Research was conducted in Brazil in order to analyze and understand Venezuelan immigration.
Information, news, columns in magazines and newspapers from major media brought data and
elements equal, similar and different from what professionals report on site, so it is necessary to
analyze to understand why these divergences. This understanding can lead us precisely in the
practices of astroturfing directed by influencers who hold interests in the Venezuelan crisis
simulating the public to acquire support from the same direction to obtain advantages.

Significant data on the Bolivarian economic and political crisis that triggered others were
brought by the National Immigration Council-CNIg, through the research called
Sociodemographic and Labor Profile of Venezuelan Immigration in Brazil 7 in together with the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-UNHCR, the Observatory for International
Migration-OBMigra and the Federal University of Roraima-UFRR.

Working on the development of the article with this official data platform helps us understand
the understanding of professional journalists who carry out their field activities. All with access
to these published data and the exercise of their activity in the field of existence of the problems
of the exodus, and describe their views in different ways. Where is your exemption and
sensitivity, regardless of whether or not you are affiliated with segments of society? Otherwise
we'll see.

For the Socialist Party of Unified Workers-PSTU, endowed with left-wing ideology, it describes
that suddenly there were hundreds in the condition of begging. The government's response was
to the mass, illegal and inhuman deportation of the indigenous, which was interrupted by the

7
The economic and political crisis in the neighboring country were pointed out as the main causes for
displacement (76.4% of the total) and many have a migratory network composed mostly of friends (58%
of the total). The migrants arrived mostly by bus and took, on average, 1 to 2 days to arrive in Pacaraima,
on the Brazilian side of the border. As expected, the majority (82.4% of the total) are asylum seekers and
most already have some Brazilian document. With regard to housing, a significant percentage lives in
rented residence, divides with a number of 2 to 4 people and pays up to 300 reais per month. Regarding
employment, there is a significant percentage of unemployed (35.4% of the total) and individuals who are
working on their own (31.7%). Almost all employees receive up to two minimum wages, with the number
of those receiving more than two minimum wages per month, i.e. above 1,874 reais, in the minimum
wage values of September 2017 minimum wage.
https://portaldeimigracao.mj.gov.br/images/publicacoes/Perfil_Sociodemografico_e_laboral_venezuelano
s_Brasil.pdf. Accessed on 19/07/2019, at 01h49min.
DPU (Public Defender's Office of the Union) in 2017, when 450 would be deported forcibly,
but this was already an invisible practice of the Federal Police since 2014. It should be
registered that Roraima is already a state, despite having the largest indigenous population in the
country, impregnated by racism against indigenous peoples, and the condition of being
"foreigners" aggravated the situation8.

It is logical that in the case on screen, a political party driven by ideological bias, regardless of
spectrum, will develop a work along the lines of its profile of ideas, even having as support
database the disposition in research conducted in Brazil with the support United Nations-UN.

Another ideological example is the description of the diaspora's problems by the Workers-PT
Party that brings his view on the exploitation of immigrant Venezuelans in Roraima. The
average salary of Venezuelans in the Roraima trade also ranges from R$ 300 to R$ 600,
depending on the time of work and the generosity of the boss. Luciano Marquez started getting
R $ 50 per week, but, he says, his commitment and loyalty to the boss caused his salary to
increase to R $ 150 per week. He says he is proud of the advance and expects new achievements
for the coming months. "My boss said that as soon as things get better, he's going to regularize
me, sign my wallet and pay me the minimum. Not all Venezuelans who come here are rascals,
we are also workers," he says. The president of the Pacaraima Trade Association, Cleber Soares,
recognizes that there are irregularities in local commerce, but minimizes the issue. "In most
cases do people want to help, who are touched by what these people are going through," he
says. "What happens is that not everyone has the capacity to bear all labor costs, it is very
difficult to employ someone in Brazil," says Soares, who is the PSL candidate's electoral cable
for president, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, as well as most of the city's 9 merchants.

On the other hand, sectors of various federative entities – municipalities, state and union – also
bring different views on the same problem. Of course, anyone has their subjectivity and
worldview, but, a journalist accompanying on site a reality, as well as being supported by
national and international research to help you understand what actually happens, are not
enough to report the subject with exemption and understanding, without obviously generalizing.

8
Paper written by PSTU. Venezuelan immigration in Roraima: a humanitarian crisis. Source:
https://www.pstu.org.br/imigracao-venezuelana-em-roraima-uma-crise-humanitaria/. Accessed on
07/20/2019 at 11h39min pm.
https://www.pstu.org.br/imigracao-venezuelana-em-roraima-uma-crise-humanitaria/. Accessed on
21/07/2019, at 02h07min.
9
Paper written by Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores)-PT. The exploitation of Venezuelan
workers in Roraima.
https://www.dw.com/pt-br/a-explora%C3%A7%C3%A3o-dos-trabalhadores-venezuelanos-em-
roraima/a-45284173. Accessed on 20/07/2019, at 23h59min.
For example, the municipality of Pacaraima-RR, in its news 10 panel, is omission in several of its
publications. In the official demonstrations described on the portal, he often posts only photos to
record the moments when they are effectively or allegedly dealing with the problem of
Venezuelan refugees, either with the High Commissioner of United Nations-UN Organizations,
members of the Mercosur Parliament, either in a public hearing in the Federal Senate, among
others.

Jumping from the competence of the municipal power of Pacaraima to the state of Roraima, the
subject of the Venezuelan diaspora is loosely portrayed by the Secretariat of Communication-
Secom. Of the sixty-one items available on the state news website (each open item contains the
record of four news in sequence), five mention the severity of the problems caused by the
diaspora the state structure, as well as to Venezuelan immigrants and your vulnerability 11.

When federal competence is coming, where the union overlaps with others, being the tip of the
pyramid in terms of centralization of power, including in the dissemination of news of national
relevance, the exodus of part of the Venezuelan people is treated with some prominence. Of the
100 items about information from immigrants available in the system, (each with the description
of ten news), the subjects are varied, such as requests for refuge from immigrants, reports on the
situation of refugees, the Lima Summit discussing the diaspora, the relocation of Venezuelan
immigrant groups to other Federation states, such as giving it to clashes at the borders with
Venezuela, humanitarian aid to immigrants, dealting funds to Venezuelan immigrants, literacy
of children the request for new elections in Venezuela recommended by the Lima Group,
possibility of federal intervention in the State of Roraima, the maintenance of the policy of
welcoming by the federal government, opening of selection process at universities for
immigrants, donation for the reception of immigrants in general, inclusion of Venezuelan
LGBTI immigrants, new places of care for Venezuelan immigrants in the state of Roraima,
graduation of immigrants Venezuelans in vocational courses 12.

10
https://www.pacaraima.rr.gov.br/noticias/720. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h09min.
https://www.pacaraima.rr.gov.br/noticias/161. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h12min.
https://www.pacaraima.rr.gov.br/noticias/329. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h15min.

11
http://portal.rr.gov.br/index.php/noticias?start=220. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h44min.
http://portal.rr.gov.br/index.php/noticias?start=240. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01: 50 min.
http://portal.rr.gov.br/index.php/noticias?start=255. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h53min.
http://portal.rr.gov.br/index.php/noticias?start=290. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 01h58min.
http://portal.rr.gov.br/index.php/noticias?start=295. Accessed on 21/07/2019, at 02h03min.

12
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2019/07/mais-de-80-mil-pessoas-pedem-refugio-
ao-brasil-em-2018. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h02min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2019/07/mais-de-80-mil-pessoas-pedem-refugio-ao-
brasil-em-2018/refugio.jpg/view. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h04min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/ultimas-noticias/grupo-de-lima-manifesta-preocupacao-com-violacao-
de-direitos-humanos-na-venezuela. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h07min.
Another sector of society that stands out on refugees from Venezuela is religious. Religions and
their aspects seek to support situations of public calamity involving humanitarian actions. The
Catholic Church, through the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil-CNBB, highlights the
importance of scheduling actions to help Venezuelan 13 refugees in Brazil, also highlights the
relevance of the welcome to Venezuelan immigrants.

The Evangelical religion also works to help Venezuelan refugees in Brazil, on the borders
between the two countries14. There is the Third Sector that also operates in Brazil to understand
the situation of Venezuelan refugees and their difficulties, such as the Getúlio Vargas-FGV
Foundation, which provides migration management in Brazil, analysis of Venezuelan refugee
networks in the country15.

Through the manifestations of different sectors of civil society, as demonstrated, several ways
of informing and reporting on the same subjects are noted. Why does that happen? Of course,
this can happen because professionals have their subjectivity to expose their worldview, but, it

http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2019/03/nova-etapa-da-operacao-levara-330-
venezuelanos-ao-interior-do-brasil. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h15min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2019/02/brasil-condena-confrontos-nas-fronteiras-
com-a-venezuela. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h20min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2019/02/itamaraty-brasil-cumpre-seu-papel-ao-
enviar-ajuda-humanitaria-a-venezuela. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h22min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2019/02/governo-destina-r-14-milhoes-para-
assistencia-a-imigrantes-venezuelanos. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h25min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/educacao-e-ciencia/2019/01/ministerio-da-educacao-esta-a-disposicao-
para-alfabetizar-criancas-venezuelanas-diz-ministro. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h32min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2019/01/grupo-de-lima-pede-novas-eleicoes-na-
venezuela. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h41min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/seguranca-e-justica/2018/12/camara-vota-decreto-de-intervencao-nesta-
terca-feira-11. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h47min.
http://www2.planalto.gov.br/mandatomicheltemer/acompanhe-planalto/noticias/2018/12/brasil-vai-
manter-politica-de-acolhimento-de-imigrantes-garante-temer. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h49min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2018/12/universidade-abre-processo-seletivo-para-
refugiados. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h52min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2018/12/brasil-doa-r-15-milhoes-para-
acolhimento-de-imigrantes. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 01h58min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2018/11/governo-garante-inclusao-de-imigrantes-
venezuelanos-lgbti. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h05min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/emprego-e-previdencia/2018/11/venezuelanos-ganham-novos-locais-de-
atendimento-em-roraima. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h08min.
http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/cidadania-e-inclusao/2018/11/cem-venezuelanos-se-formam-em-cursos-
profisionalizantes-em-manaus. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h13min.
13
http://www.cnbb.org.br/igreja-catolica-busca-implementar-acoes-para-ajudar-imigrantes-venezuelanos-
no-pais/. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h25min.
https://noticiascatolicas.com.br/igreja-no-brasil-na-acolhida-aos-migrantes-venezuelanos.html. Accessed
on 22/07/2019, at 02h29min.
14
https://noticias.cancaonova.com/brasil/fronteira-venezuelabrasil-o-trabalho-da-igreja-na-ajuda-aos-
imigrantes-venezuelanos/. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h35min.
15
http://dapp.fgv.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Desafio-migrato%CC%81rio-Roraima-policy-paper.pdf.
Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 02h48min.
http://dapp.fgv.br/analise-de-redes-sobre-refugiados-venezuelanos-aponta-para-o-desafio-migratorio-em-
roraima/. Accessed on 22/07/2019, at 3: 01 min.
is precisely within this subjectivity that attempts to guide public opinion and simulate supposed
support from spectators emerge.

In Venezuela

The Nicolas Maduro government often issues official information and news on the site in order
to sustain the legitimacy of its administration, as well as seeks not to demonstrate conflicts with
the opposition. In this line it usually employs the dissemination of clashes against the United
States and its imperialism.

For example, of the ten items surveyed – each with ten news – the official government website
brings headlines and reports with content of various information and news such as the
Bolivarian Chavista Revolution and its visible anti-imperialist achievements, Venezuela has
rejected new coercive measures imposed by the U.S. against the local Supply and Production-
CLAP Committees, Maduro's government has urged colombian military personnel to disobey
imperial orders, Venezuela is ready to host world event anti-imperialist of the XXV Forum of
São Paulo, the Venezuelan people demonstrate high level of awareness in the face of attacks
that have resulted in energy cuts in the country, Venezuela is prepared to fight attacks on the
country's electricity system, Latin America and the world voice against imperialism, United
States continues to send spy planes into Venezuelan airspace, new attacks affect the country's
electrical system, unit spirit of the Venezuelan people will not break with blockade, countries
unite in support of the Maduro government against coercive measures of the United States,
representative of the Maduro government points out at the UN the need for a truce by the
country's aggressors16.

16
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13786.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h07min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13779.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h11min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13776.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h16min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13767.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h22min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13761.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h27min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13757.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h32min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13755.
Accessed on 23/07/2019 at 01h37min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13753.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h42min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13752.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h45min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13747.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h49min.
http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13748.
Accessed on 23/07/2019, at 01h53min.
It is noted that the Venezuelan government does not portray the exodus of part of its people to
neighboring countries and not even the difficulties faced by street clashes, health crises,
education, in the economy that lead to high rates of violence in the country. A moment
conducive to the practice of astroturfing by the government and local media, guiding only anti-
imperialism as news, influencing public opinion and bringing to the knowledge of the
population only a subject that supposedly holds the support of viewers , simulating an
acceptance.

Another sector that stands out about social problems in Venezuela is religious. Specifically, the
Catholic Church, which issues information and news that goes against the official
demonstrations of the Nicolas Maduro government, on various issues involving the crisis that
reflects on the Bolivarian people, such as Bishops ask Maduro to step out of power for the
holding new elections, Cardinal denounces that the Catholic Church is persecuted by the
Maduro government, Archbishop says the Catholic Church will continue with the Venezuelan
people, Church warns that Venezuelan immigrants may be victims of human trafficking 17. In
this sense the Evangelical Church and its aspects also act to help the Venezuelan people 18.

In Colombia

The Colombian government also speaks out about Venezuela’s crisis at its various points, but
the highlight is Bolivarian immigration that has followed Colombia for the most part. And
public and notorious that Colombia welcomed thousands of Venezuelans across its borders and
consequently suffered problems in its infrastructure that did not lead the exodus of refugees.

Due to the lack of reciprocal communication between the governments of Venezuela and
Colombia, it decided to close its borders to prevent refugees from entering in 2015, generating
diplomatic problems between the two nations. There have been numerous situations such as the
crisis becoming a political problem for Colombia19.

http://www.presidencia.gob.ve/Site/Web/Principal/paginas/classMostrarEvento3.php?id_evento=13717.
Accessed on 23/07/2019 at 01h59min.
17
https://www.acidigital.com/noticias/venezuela-bispos-pedem-a-maduro-que-deixe-o-poder-e-seja-eleito-
novo-governo-24822. Accessed on 24/07/2019, at 01h07min.
https://www.acidigital.com/noticias/igreja-catolica-e-perseguida-por-governo-da-venezuela-denuncia-
cardeal-35719. Accessed on 24/07/2019, at 01h12min.
https://www.acidigital.com/noticias/igreja-na-venezuela-seguira-junto-aos-que-mais-sofrem-assegura-
arcebispo-67247. Accessed on 24/07/2019, at 01h18min.
https://www.acidigital.com/noticias/igreja-adverte-que-imigrantes-venezuelanas-podem-ser-vitimas-do-
trafico-de-pessoas-89296. Accessed on 24/07/2019, at 01h24min.
18
https://www.gospelprime.com.br/igreja-alimenta-crise-venezuela/ . Accessed on 24/07/2019, at
01h48min.
19
https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2015/08/25/internacional/1440521630_582040.html . Accessed on
24/07/2019, at 02h37min.
The political problem of the Venezuelan exodus affects neighboring countries. First, part of the
Bolivarian population entered and still enter, in Colombian soil in search of health treatment 20,
specifically pregnant women, due to lack of basic health care 21.

The Colombian government is in a variety of ways about the problems that generate the exodus
in Venezuela. Of the twenty items on the news from the presidency page – each item with five
news exposed – four of them mention something about the topic. The issue is focused more on
the authoritarianism of the Bolivarian government 22, on the donation of vaccines by the Belgian
government to Venezuelan refugees in Colombia23, the Colombian government's commitment to
maintaining peace policy and creating conditions for the people to Venezuela can live again in
democracy24, the United States thank the Colombian government for its generosity in the face of
the migration crisis25.

Another social sector that deals with the Venezuelan diaspora is religious. The Catholic Church
in Colombia deals with the issue through its Archbishop of Bogotá Rubén Salazar Gómez
mentions the archdiocese's practices to welcome refugees 26, continues the Church's help to
immigrants crossing Venezuela’s border to Colombia 27. The Colombian Evangelical Church
also operates in the practices of social assistance to Bolivarian refugees helps with meals and
medicines28.

Astroturfing under the focus of humanitarian journalists in Brazil, Colombia and

Venezuela

Undeniable that most of the information and news published by the media are written by
journalists, regardless of the social niche that it represents or works. The human being, the
professional, now the journalist, carries with him the subjectivity, that is, what is proper to the

20
https://nacoesunidas.org/gestantes-deixam-venezuela-para-buscar-atendimento-de-saude-na-colombia/ .
Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 01h03min.
21
https://news.un.org/pt/story/2019/07/1681241. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 01h10min.
22
https://id.presidencia.gov.co/Paginas/prensa/2019/190731-El-mundo-no-puede-tolerar-que-dictadura-de-
Venezuela-sea-un-santuario-para-terroristas-Presidente-Duque.aspx. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at
01h35min.
23
https://id.presidencia.gov.co/Paginas/prensa/2019/190718-Belgica-y-la-farmaceutica-GSK-donaron-
364-mil-vacunas-para-los-migrantes-venezolanos.aspx. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 01h40min.
24
https://id.presidencia.gov.co/Paginas/prensa/2019/190718-Canciller-formalizo-ante-el-Secretario-de-la-
ONU-la-solicitud-de-prorroga-de-la-Mision-de-Verificacion-en-Colombia.aspx. Accessed on 25/07/2019,
at 01h46min.
25
https://id.presidencia.gov.co/Paginas/prensa/2019/190716-Estados-Unidos-agradecio-liderazgo-y-
generosidad-de-Colombia-frente-a-crisis-migratoria.aspx. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 01h52min.
26
https://www.vaticannews.va/pt/igreja/news/2017-11/igreja-colombiana-se-mobiliza-para-acolher-
venezuelanos.html. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 02h14min.
27
https://www.acidigital.com/noticias/continua-a-ajuda-da-igreja-aos-migrantes-que-cruzam-da-
venezuela-para-a-colombia-31216. Accessed on 25/07/2019, at 02h20min.

https://noticias.gospelmais.com.br/acao-evangelica-refeicoes-agua-venezuela-113423.html . Accessed on
28

25/07/2019, at 02h31min.
subject, personal, which is not concrete, accurate and objective. Moreover, it brings to ideology,
belief, faith, moral values, ethics, culture, identity among others.

The journalist, in the exercise of his calculation function to write and publish information and
news in the press in general, needs to disclose what he observed, witnessed participated or not
actively participated in the fact. This description can be taken to the media with of vices, being
purposely contaminated, according to their ideology, subjectivity, belief, faith, moral values,
ethics, identity, culture among other characteristics that can affect viewers co-opting them.

Concomitantly, the personal characteristics of the journalism professional also arises to the
characteristics of the communication vehicle where it carries out its respective work activity.
There are vehicles that are extremely ideological, regardless of the political spectrum, whether
right-wing or left, as well as governments and political parties that stand out for their idealistic
aspects.

In this line, there are also vehicles belonging to the Third Sector such as Non-Governmental
Organizations, Think Tanks29, as well as religions, which may try to solidify theories with
massive and repetitive writings, launching and publishing information and news riddled with
ideology, belief, moral values, culture, identity, in the sense of co-opting the viewer.

The journalist has remarkable participation within this disclosure process. Very difficult to be
exempted from the description of the information and news that generate national network and
chain reports, whether on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, blogs, websites, You Tube,
prone to attracting their viewers.

By itself, there is already a concatenation of contagion within and in the course of the
journalistic process when the elaboration of the content of these reports to be taken public by
the above mentioned characteristics. This can foster another relevant aspect that happens behind
the scenes of journalism that is the shady interest of individuals and pressure groups who act
intensely to solidify what is convenient and advantageous to it.

In order for these individuals and pressure groups to achieve their objectives, it is necessary to
approach journalism professionals who belong to communication vehicles of great national
repercussion. Exactly here that astroturfing can be applied to deceive the mass. Previously, the
phenomenon was carried out manually, by written letters, as mentioned in the introduction of
this article. With the evolution of communication technology, the simulator object is applied on

29
Laboratory of ideas, strategic office, center of thought or reflection. It is an institution or group of
experts of an investigative and reflective nature whose function is intellectual reflection on social policy
issues, political strategy, economics, military affairs, technology or culture.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank. Accessed on 07/23/2019 at 02h06min.
a large scale and less laborious. It is possible that almost all media outlets can put in place the
deceiving of their spectator audience through astroturfing. Individuals and pressure groups work
behind the scenes of the news, influencing with their interests the simulation of the public as if
it had approved that agenda disclosed.

In Brazil

Examples occur in numerous sectors. In the Environment, there are media outlets that publish
reports prepared by journalists who bring on the subject "climate" different views on the same
subject. The whole world knows that deforestation in the Amazon is intense, but there are those
who argue that it is controlled and that it is carried out within the margin allowed by the Federal
Public Power.

That's what some ideological Think Tanks mention, that is, organizations aimed at influencing
public opinion to undermine the credibility 30 of other institutions that think and research
differently, which bring other types of data and information. In reality they are communicative
constructions that tend to bring doubts to the population, proportionate to the practice of the
astroturfing phenomenon. The same happens on controversial issues such as the diaspora of
Venezuelan immigrants.

In politics also happens, moreover, perhaps it is the space where more different news and
information occurs and found out about the same fact. It really is the most abundant field for the
practice of astroturfing and its forms of simulation. The political field is important because it is
in it where decision-making is made, with the weight of changing the direction or direction of a
municipality, a state or the country. Let's look at the example of the impeachment of former
President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, which began with street movements sponsored by the Brazil
Free-MBL Movement that went to public spaces leading to the initial problem of the increase in
bus tickets by 0.20 real cents in São Paulo, but at the same time, inserted the request for

30
Interview given by PhD Daniel Reis Silva: I believe that the main impact is related to the unveiling of
aspects of the debate on climate change that remain to a large extent hidden by barriers of secrecy. The
thesis casts a look at the way diverse actors try to interfere in the direction of public controversies
involving science, enabling an understanding of the topic by the media and audiences that goes beyond
the innocent idea of neutral science constructed from undeniable truths. In particular, the work allows us
to reflect on the performance of ideological think tanks, organizations aimed at influencing public opinion
that increasingly move financial resources and that, in general, try to undermine the credibility of
institutions teaching and research at the same time as private interests are in private interests with a textile
clothing. The analysis on the logics and dynamics of this campaign of manufacturing of uncertainties it
also revealed important issues that can help society deal with these practices, and it is worth highlighting
the idea of demobilization, related to how the campaign tries to create obstacles to the formation and
movement of audiences, and the strategic use of cacophony as an element for the construction of doubts,
especially from new digital communication technologies.
https://www.capes.gov.br/premiocapesdetese/noticias/pct/9261-dr-daniel-reis-silva. Accessed on
07/26/2019 at 21h13min.
impediment of the president, simulating the supposed acceptance of people at that time, until the
interest was really solidified and reached the goal that was intended.

And in the case of the Venezuelan diaspora is it possible to occur the astroturfing? Yes, it is
possible, or by the provocation of the humanitarian journalist himself, as well as by the
communication vehicle that acts, as well as it is possible to happen the phenomenon and the
humanitarian journalist report it without knowing that the event is taking place, with the lack of
perception that simulation is ongoing and also involved because it is not insightful at that time
in that a moment.

In Venezuela

As already demonstrated, the communication of the Venezuelan government brings a

distinct view of Colombia and Brazil with regard to the exodus, because it will never
say that the fact happens as a result of its authoritarian acts. The Colombian and
Brazilian governments will bring their communications in contradiction with the
Maduro administration, given that both are aligned with the ideological thoughts of the
United States that is in the clash with the Bolivarian nation. Here it is possible to
practice astroturfing quietly. Behind the scenes of government media outlets, the
versions on the same fact will be distinct by all the above features so far. There will be
support from the shady concerns that each needs.

For example, the official communication of the Venezuelan government often releases
information and news that the internal conflicts that occurred and still happen in the
country is the fault of the United States, the death of children in Venezuela, attack of
hackers31, which in collusion with the opposition Guaidó, they practice wear and tear
actions, therefore all difficulties that arise and hinders the smooth progress of the
government's public policies, are not as a result of their supposed administrative
illegitimacy.

In Colombia

As already mentioned in the previous topic, both Colombia and Brazil are currently
ideologically similar to the United States on various issues in International Relations,
specifically on the exodus of Venezuelan refugees. For this point, both countries are against the
government of Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro. All its internal actions affecting the

https://exame.abril.com.br/mundo/venezuela-culpa-eua-por-morte-de-criancas/ .
31
Accessed on
26/07/2019, at 21h32min.
https://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2019/03/09/maduro-atribui-apagao-na-venezuela-a-ataque-hacker-
dos-estados-unidos.ghtml. Accessed on 26/07/2019, at 21h35min.
Bolivarian population are customary by these governments cited. In this information game the
probability of happening the astroturfing is enormous. It is in this kind of hostile environment,
of the news war the phenomenon is present. Public or private interest groups act alone or in
collusion with large corporations and public sectors in order to guide issues by the media in
general.

For example, in Colombia, they create information and news that is undiscovered to impact
public opinion by simulating a fictitious situation supposedly a reality. The lack of a public
control policy to register Venezuelan immigrants, demanding documents or assisting in the
search for any record proving their identity, causes the government to issue news about people
born on Colombian soil, from immigration and do not even have an identification role 32.

Methodology

The methodology applied is that of understanding as a method. We used the author Boaventura
de Sousa Santos who fights for the democratization of knowledge, bringing a postmodern vision
as against point the dominant version of modern science.

The transition from modern to postmodern science not only characterizes a relevant change but
also solidifies a break in educational paradigm capable of making prudent knowledge emerge
for a decent life.

This vision creates a connection directly from postmodern science, more humanitarian
including, with social issues such as motto, not only for a dignified life, but also a narrowing
with the social subject, breaking with modern scientific traditions that cause chasms with social
man, reducing prejudices and increasing integration, generating the real social relevance of
research.

Reduces social transformation to accelerated repetition of the present

and refuses to distinguish between emancipatory and progressive
versions of hybridization and regulatory and conservative versions,
[so] it has been easy for modern critical theory to claim for itself the
monopoly on the idea of a "better society" and normative action. On
the contrary, the postmodern opposition radically questions this
monopoly. The idea of a "better society" is central to it, but, unlike
modern critical theory, conceives socialism as an aspiration of radical
democracy, a future among others possible that will never be fully

https://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2019/05/23/milhares-de-filhos-de-refugiados-venezuelanos-
32

nascidos-na-colombia-estao-se-tornando-apatridas.ghtml. Accessed on 26/07/2019, at 21h42min.

 realized. On the other hand, the normativity it aspires to is constructed
without reference to abstract universalisms in which racist and
Eurocentric prejudices (SANTOS, 2011, p.37) are almost always
hidden (Our griffin).

In the same vein, we brought author Hanna Arendt to suggest the idea of the "common", in
which the human condition has to be taken into account because it is fundamental to the
solidification of active life, creating conditions prone to peace, respect and social organization.
It is based on three social pillars that are: labor, work and action, and their agglutination
converges in a life of peace, stillness and contemplation, ensuring such characteristics as
common within society.

The application of both authors, sometimes Boaventura and Arendt, serves as a hybrid attempt
to bring new, postmodern science, which in fact provides, with more emphasis the intended
social relevance, not only with the narrowing of epistemology with man social, as well as
providing a better, dignified living condition, in which satisfaction is part of the common, in
which labor, work and action, can ensure society a more just, equitable organization and
calming people spirits and humanizing people.

By a reflection, humanization generates a better deal with Venezuelan migrants and others
under the same conditions. It also provides respect and dignity to others, through
resignifications and empathy of the receiving population that extends to humanitarian journalists
who can cover the exodus more sensitively, however much it belongs to communication group’s
conservatives, who are against the acceptance and openness of Brazilian borders to refugees and
applicants from abroad.

Final considerations

The theme of the Bolivarian diaspora of refugees is complex. Its reality is cruel and unbridled.
Currently, the attempt at migration does not stop happening as a result of internal conflicts
between groups representing the state of government exercised by Nicolas Maduro and
opposition led by Juan Guaidó.

The reflection is the fragility of health, the violation of fundamental human rights, crises in
politics, the economy and international relations with the great nations and with the United
Nations-UN Organizations.

The countries bordering Venezuela, specifically Brazil and Colombia, (chosen because of the
international event to be held at the IV Seminar Brazil-Colombia of Comprehension Studies and
Practices held in Brazil, specifically at the University of Methodist from São Paulo-UMESP),
suffer from the unbridled exodus. The exhaustion of its infrastructure, the strengthening of its
borders with the strong presence of the Armed Forces and xenophobia, ends up contaminating
the process of relations between the nations that are currently ideological zed with the United
States, sometimes arch-enemy bolivarian.

Consequently, professionals who cover all the problems triggered by the diaspora are
manifested by public and private agencies that act and describe their feelings and field
observations. Various interests conflict with either the Venezuelan refugee population, or with
Brazil and Colombia and its public and private bodies, as well as with the levels of municipal,
state and federal competence, with religious nuclei, third sector and means of communication
among others.

Journalists, including humanitarians, can understand the real situation of the catastrophe, but do
not always report what they actually and rightly observe with their field work or because they
cannot identify. But there are those who identify and because they represent public or private
groups, describe the opposite of what is real by unrepublican interests.

It is in this line that the phenomenon astroturfing presents itself, that is, the journalist who
represents a certain interest of a group, or describes, or presents, something simulated to the
point of impacting the public opinion of a country, of a municipality creating movements,
revolutions and small or large mounts, affecting and co-opting the dough.

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