Remember my last post about how Venezuela was ranked “23” on the UN World Happiness Report? Well, the most recent World Happiness Report (2016) was recently released, showing that Venezuela’s rank dropped from 23 to 44… that’s 21 steps down in just one year. The decline of happiness from 2005-2007 to 2013-2015 has dramatically decreased since last year, making a difference of -0.725 within a 95% confidence interval. This is a dramatic, unfortunate change in happiness. In just one year, the happiness in Venezuela has declined but why? Upon further research, I have found one reason as to why Venezuela’s happiness rank has dropped.
In Venezuela, there has been recent forms of censorship throughout popular forms of media, such as social media sites (ie: Twitter) as well as popular news stations. Citizens believe this to be associated with physical anti-governmental protests and protests conducted online. As a result, over 100 journalists have left the country, and 180 other journalists have been mugged or attacked (60% of journalists have been attacked by Venezuelan national security forces). In fact, five newspapers were expected to close as of last year because of their columnists criticizing President Maduro and his government.
News Station that was Censored in Venezuela
This form of media censorship has not only affected newspaper platforms, but also the well-being of Venezuelan citizens. After the murder of popular Congressman Robert Serra, a woman named Ines Gonzales Arraga tweeted against the Venezuelan government. She stating that people shouldn’t mourn the death of Serra because he wasn’t a good person, saying that Serra “led a squad of terror and gave kids guns.” She was given three charges and was sentenced to prison. As of now it she has been in prison for over a year. In addition to this charge, Arraga’s sister stated that “police officers beat [Arraga] when they transferred her to a military hospital.” From this one account, there is no doubt that media censorship in Venezuela is getting out of hand and is physically and mentally affecting its citizens. Another attack on a citizen for government-related social media posts was targeted to a man, Victor Ugas, who posted a picture of Serra’s body in the morgue Serra was placed in. Due to these threats on social media users, many citizens are in fear of posting something about anti-governmental topics on social media sites, for they could suffer the same fate as Arraga or Ugas.
There have been many responses from several foreigners and organizations observing the increase of censorship in Venezuela. Asdrubal Aguiar, Regional Vice President of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) responded to the lack of press freedom in Venezuela by proposing “four resolutions” to President Maduro and his government officials. In these “four resolutions,” he is basically stating that the Venezuelan government is unjustly arresting and condemning those who speak freely against the Venezuelan government. He also addresses that “freedom of speech and press” is “the backbone of democracy,” something that the Venezuela government is refusing to give.
Here are the four resolutions the Regional Vice President of the IAPA, Asdrubal Aguiar, is proposing (translated by Google):
1. “To declare the manifest and final rupture of freedom of speech and press in Venezuela, the backbone of democracy, and its criminalization by the state.
2. “To condemn the behavior of Nicolas Maduro Moros and Captain Diosdado Cabello as victimizers first free press and public information concealment.
3. “express its solidarity with the 89 political and opinion prisoners, 2,006 people for the same reason are kept on parole, and accompanying Miguel Henrique Otero editors, Alberto Ravell and Teodoro Petkoff, and leaders democratic criminalized for their opinion: Leopoldo Lopez, Antonio Ledezma and Maria Corina Machado.
4. “And that requires American governments and the international community, especially of hemispheric public opinion, remain vigilant and support international observation of parliamentary elections by the OAS, the UN, and the European Union; and prevention so that the suspension of guarantees and the progressive closure of borders do not serve as excuses for the consummation of an attack against the sovereign will.”
Hopefully the Venezuelan government will change its opinions on policies regarding a citizen’s freedom of expression (especially through the media) in the near future. If not, the UN World Happiness Report’s researchers will continuously rank Venezuela’s happiness level lower and lower as the years progress…
Until Next Time!
-Alex C.
Sources: Canadian Journalists For Free Expression: http://www.cjfe.org/resources/features/growing-media-censorship-venezuela Venezuela's Censorship Goes from Bad to Worse (PanAm Post):https://panampost.com/sabrina-martin/2015/10/07/venezuelas-censorship-goes-from-bad-to-worse/ Four Resolutions by IAPA Regional Vice President (Must Translate on Google): http://www.diariocontraste.com/2015/10/ruptura-final-de-la-libertad-de-expresion-en-venezuela-pediran-declarar-en-la-sip/ Nicolas Maduro Press Censorship (International Business Times): http://www.ibtimes.com/nicolas-maduro-press-censorship-threatens-venezuela-newspapers-media-cant-operate-1886288 UN World Happiness Report 2015: http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/WHR15.pdf UN World Happiness Report 2016: http://worldhappiness.report/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/HR-V1_web.pdf NTN24 Censored in Venezuela VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbISTh6VPCg
~A Taste of Venezuela~ 