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Núm. 28 (2025): Archivar emergencias: los documentos en conflictos y catástrofes

Archivos vivos de resistencia : Las redes sociales como archivos precarios natos en la Venezuela censurada

DOI
https://doi.org/10.51598/tab.1085
Enviado
febrero 13, 2026
Publicado
2026-02-27

Resumen

En contextos de represión estatal, las instituciones archivísticas tradicionales suelen ser incapaces de documentar la agitación civil y resistencia política. Este artículo examina el papel de las redes sociales como archivos vivos en Venezuela, donde el control gubernamental ha llevado a la ciudadanía a recurrir a los medios digitales para documentar protestas y violaciones de derechos humanos. Estos documentos descentralizados y efímeros funcionan como archivos creados fuera del control institucional y, a menudo, en directa oposición a las narrativas del Estado. 

A partir de la teoría archivística crítica el artículo sostiene que estos documentos no pueden explicarse mediante los modelos de archivos comunitarios, participativos o contra-archivos. En cambio, ejemplifican archivos precarios natos: documentos forjados bajo la represión, y cuya inestabilidad y fragilidad son notas constitutivas y no accidentales. El artículo explica cómo documentar la resistencia en línea puede amplificar la verdad, pero también exponer a las personas a las represalias; y analiza los riesgos del deterioro digital, la censura y la gobernanza de las plataformas. Por último, aboga por una reinvención de la práctica archivística, que traslade el valor del archivo de la permanencia a la presencia y de la custodia al acompañamiento en situaciones de riesgo. 

In contexts of state repression, traditional archival institutions are often unable to document civil unrest and political resistance. This article examines the role of social media as living archives in Venezuela, where government control has led citizens to turn to digital media to document protests and human rights violations. These decentralized and ephemeral records function as archives created outside institutional control and often in direct opposition to state narratives. 

Drawing on critical archival theory, the article argues that these records cannot be explained through models of community archives, participatory archives, or counter-archives. Instead, they exemplify born-precarious archives: records forged under repression, whose instability and fragility are constitutive rather than accidental features. The article explains how documenting resistance online can amplify truth while simultaneously exposing individuals to retaliation, and it analyzes the risks of digital decay, censorship, and platform governance. Finally, it calls for a reinvention of archival practice that shifts the value of the archive from permanence to presence, and from custody to accompaniment in situations of risk. 

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