First it was watching retweets of news from Iran in Spanish. Then I slowly started seeing hashtags with Iran and Venezuela mentioned in the same tweet. Finally, I saw a collective twitter account and reading the profile helped me grasp the enormity of what I was witnessing: a student movement like Iran’s relying on the internet to inform people of what is happening inside their country – this time in Venezuela.

I remember a few months ago, as I was tweeting about a protest in Iran and live-blogging, I noticed former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Diego Arria – a Venezuelan – tweeting information about the protest in Iran. While it surprised me to see such a revered diplomat taking key interest in Iran’s Green Movement, I soon also began to witness mass support from Venezuelan students for the Iranian cause. But more interesting and heartening to me was the fact that they have been on Twitter and other social media outlets for more than a year fighting for their own rights as well.

Theirs is a story much similar to Iran’s. A population subjugated to ill-planned economics, a strongman unwilling to leave power and a government ever more keen to restrict its citizen’s right to freedom of speech.

As protests rocked Venezuela two week ago, news of the protests made its way out not only on the backs of the traditional mainstream media outlets, but also on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Photobucket and other websites once used for entertainment, killing time or just plain ole finding a date. The powerful role that social networking websites have continued to play for getting news out of Iran and organizing events in support of the Green Movement abroad seems to be slowly being harnessed for the Venezuelan students as well.

After coming back from a short vacation, the first thing I noticed on my Twitter account was the varying articles, pictures and videos of Venezuela’s students protesting against the banning of cable station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) and five other stations for not broadcasting a speech by Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez. I didn’t even have to log onto my usual news websites. It was right there in front of me and I’m sure in front of thousands of others who would’ve otherwise not seen it thanks to celebrity gossip and empty floating balloonesque stories taking over MSM.

And if anyone has any doubts about the success of this movement, they don’t need to look too  far for evidence. Already Twitter users who have come out in support of Iran have started tweeting alongside their friends in Venezuela. The movement online is slowly but surely not just attracting support from Venezuelans, but also from foreigners who are interested in upholding human rights no matter where they might be facing the tyranny of a dictator or the arrogance of a supreme leader.

Furthermore, the movement is not disorganized. They have clear outlets on twitter especially under the account studentsvnzla and the eponymous website Venezuela Students Movement. They have a Facebook account “Chavez Tas PonCHAO” with more than 180,000 followers. Already contacts are being established between supporters of the Green Movement online and Venezuelan students. I was surprised when I asked for information on the recent protests on Twitter and instead of my Venezuelan friends on Twitter, supporters of the Green Movement were the first to link me up with up-to-date information on the situation.

The movement has been so successfully that even Chavez himself has acknowledged its importance. An article in Business Insider reports,

Chavez has fought back by declaring that “using Twitter, the internet (and) text messaging” to criticize or oppose his increasingly authoritarian regime “is terrorism,” a comment that recalls the looming threats of his allies in Iran, whose bloody crackdown on physical and electronic dissent may be blazing a trail for the Latin strongman.

Venezuelan journalist Nelson Bocaranda told El Nuevo Herald that the government has launched an army of Twitter users to bring down online networks nd try to infiltrate student groups.

As the Venezuelan movement opposing Chavez takes shape online, it is imperative that human rights activists online take notice of this movement and help it in every way possible to get the voices of Venezuelans out to the world. As in the case of Iran, the Venezuelan cause is slowly becoming more confrontational. (Hey, I fully expect the Iranian Cyber Army to target Venezuelan Twitterers for fun or for other gains.) It needs support and whenever possible, help. So consider this a call to arms.

But perhaps the most important lesson the Venezuelan movement online teaches us is the Twitter Revolution is not one that is going to remain confined to Iran or China. It is here, it is growing in scope and it will soon be used by other groups fighting for their right to freedom of speech. We can either put our lot behind them while there is still time or we can ignore them and then later try to dismiss their success to save our own faces because they’ve proven us wrong. Remember Iran?

–

You can follow events in Venezuela on Twitter under the hashtag #FreeVenezuela

–

(Apologies for the long absence. I was on vacation from January 23-27. I also took a few days off to recover from reporting the harrowing details of the tragedy in Haiti. I will be writing on the Iranian executions for the Huffington Post in tonight and tomorrow. I will continue to follow the events in Venezuela and will write a piece from time to time as well.)