Cybersecurity and State-Sponsored Hacktivism in Latin America: The Cases of Venezuela and Cuba

This article examines the rise of state-sponsored hacktivism in Latin America, with a particular focus on Venezuela and Cuba as case studies. The analysis situates these developments within the region’s broader cybersecurity dynamics, marked by low infrastructure investment, increasing geopolitical competition, and the blurred boundaries between cyber activism and cyber warfare. In Venezuela, government-aligned hacker groups such as the so-called Elite Hackers of Venezuela have been implicated in phishing, doxxing, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against political dissidents, as well as counter-cyber operations targeting foreign entities in response to U.S. sanctions on the oil sector. Cuba, operating under a long-standing U.S. embargo, has developed a unique cyber defense doctrine based on offline networks, indigenous software development, and the deployment of state-linked hacker collectives like the Red Hats to conduct propaganda and surveillance. The article further investigates the implications of these activities under international law, highlighting violations of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the inefficacy of NATO’s Cyber Defence Policy in the region, and human rights concerns under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) regarding privacy and freedom of expression. Drawing on comparative cybersecurity governance frameworks, the study proposes a threefold policy approach: establishing a Latin American Cybersecurity Pact for collective defense, implementing transparency and oversight mechanisms to counter state deniability, and strengthening civil society resilience through privacy-enhancing technologies and digital literacy initiatives. The findings suggest that state-sponsored hacktivism in Latin America is evolving into a form of “digital sovereignty,” positioning cyberspace as a strategic arena for both domestic control and international leverage. Without urgent international consensus on cyber norms, such practices risk undermining stability, escalating geopolitical tensions, and eroding fundamental rights across borders.