{"id":31100,"date":"2022-04-25T12:04:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=31100"},"modified":"2022-04-25T12:04:53","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:04:53","slug":"olga-mata-de-gil-posted-a-tiktok-mocking-venezuelan-politicians-she-got-charged-with-inciting-hatred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/25\/olga-mata-de-gil-posted-a-tiktok-mocking-venezuelan-politicians-she-got-charged-with-inciting-hatred\/","title":{"rendered":"Olga Mata de Gil posted a TikTok mocking Venezuelan politicians. She got charged with ‘inciting hatred.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]<\/p>\n

\n
Placeholder while article actions load<\/title><\/clippath><\/stop><\/stop><\/stop><\/lineargradient><\/defs><\/svg><\/div>\n
\n
\n

With her hair pulled up with a red bandanna, a 72-year-old woman carefully shapes round blobs of dough while making arepas<\/a>, a Venezuelan food staple typically stuffed with cheese, meat, avocado and beans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The nicknames Olga Mata de Gil gave her arepas were the punchlines in her TikTok video \u2014 and would eventually leave her charged with \u201cinciting hatred,\u201d a crime related to terrorism in Venezuela, according to her arrest warrant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Throughout the 21-second clip \u2014 that has since been deleted from Mata de Gil\u2019s account \u2014 a woman asks her what arepas are available. Mata de Gil responds by naming the fillings after Venezuelan politicians, in jokes laced with dark humor that underscore the frustration citizens feel with the increasingly authoritarian government there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

First, she says the \u201cTarek William Saab,\u201d named after the country\u2019s attorney general, is filled with huevo, a word that literally means egg but that is also used to refer to male genitalia \u2014 alluding to the scandal in which Saab allegedly fired<\/a> his deputy after she claimed she found him having sex with men in his office. Saab has denied the claims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In a play on words, Mata de Gil said the arepa named after Venezuela\u2019s former president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, who died in 2013, is filled with mortadella \u2014 which sounds like muerto, the Spanish word for dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The one referring to Diosdado Cabello, the country\u2019s former vice president and member of the National Assembly, is stuffed with perico, which literally translates to parakeet but also refers to scrambled eggs. Perico is also slang for cocaine \u2014 hinting at Cabello\u2019s alleged involvement with drug-trafficking organizations. Cabello is wanted by the U.S. Department of State<\/a> and has a federal indictment on drug-related charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But the part that sparked the charge against Mata de Gil was her closing line. She says the arepa inspired by first lady Cilia Flores is a viuda \u2014 or a widow arepa, one without stuffing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cBut she\u2019s not a widow yet,\u201d the woman filming the video says. To which Mata de Gil shrugs, finally responding: \u201cWell, but that\u2019s what we all wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In a tweet announcing the arrest<\/a>, Saab accused Mata de Gil of \u201cinciting the assassination of public figures.\u201d He also announced her son, Florencio Gil, had been arrested on April 13 and faced the same charge. It is not clear what Florencio\u2019s role in the video was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The TikTok video quickly went viral in Venezuela, which remains mired in a deep political, economic<\/a> and humanitarian crisis. The charges against Mata de Gil have given rise to a national outcry against censorship in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In recent years, President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro has tightened his grip over the nation\u2019s institutions and lashed out against free speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Confused about the crisis in Venezuela? Here\u2019s a primer.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In 2017, Maduro\u2019s government \u2014 which is not recognized as legitimate by the United States and a slew of other countries \u2014 instituted the Law Against Hatred<\/a>, forbidding the promotion of \u201cfascism, hatred, and intolerance.\u201d Under the law, publishing \u201cmessages of intolerance and hatred\u201d carries prison sentences of up to 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In theory, the law is meant to combat intolerance. But in practice, it is a different story, said Carlos F. Lusverti, a professor and researcher at Universidad Cat\u00f3lica Andr\u00e9s Bello\u2019s Center for Human Rights in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe problem is that the law in general and this offense in particular is designed to silence critical opinion and has been used expressly against satirical or humorous expressions,\u201d Lusverti told The Washington Post. \u201cThat law constitutes a mechanism that promotes self-censorship and, as denounced at the time, is used against dissidents <\/b>and not against even more serious expressions coming from public officials themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Back in 2018, he said, a group of firefighters posted a video comparing Maduro to a donkey<\/a> \u2014 in essence, calling him dumb. Like Mata de Gil, they were detained and charged with inciting hatred. A few months later, the men were released with several restrictions, including the use of social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The same law was used in 2020 to silence reporters, doctors and scholars who criticized Maduro\u2019s response to the coronavirus<\/a> pandemic, Lusverti said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Censorship in Venezuela is not new. Under Ch\u00e1vez, a 2004 law<\/a> criminalized the publication or broadcasting of any statement that showed a \u201clack of respect\u201d for government authorities or that constituted an \u201cinsult\u201d of government leaders. In 2007, Venezuela\u2019s oldest and most popular free-to-air television network, RCTV, was forced to shut down after the government didn\u2019t renew its broadcasting license<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

U.N. investigators accuse Venezuelan government of \u2018crimes against humanity\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Since then, news deserts have become widespread in Venezuela, and \u201cindependent journalists operate within a highly restrictive regulatory and legal environment,\u201d according to a 2021 report<\/a> from the advocacy group Freedom House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cFree private expression is severely constrained in Venezuela,\u201d the report adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

For human rights groups in the country, Mata de Gil\u2019s case represents the latest attack on free speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cRecording and broadcasting a video exercising your right to freedom of expression in its individual and social dimension, through humor, is not a motive for arrest nor is it a crime,\u201d Espacio P\u00fablico, a freedom-of-speech-focused <\/b>organization, wrote Monday on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Espacio P\u00fablico recorded 246 cases<\/a> of attacks against free speech in Venezuela in 2021. At least 35 people were arrested for \u201cseeking, receiving or disseminating information\u201d \u2014 including five who shared content on WhatsApp and TikTok.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Saab, the attorney general, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post. But on Monday afternoon, once Mata de Gil\u2019s case started gaining traction on social media, he posted a video of the 72-year-old\u2019s public apology after \u201ccalling for\u201d Maduro\u2019s death \u2014 adding that she had been freed \u201cunder preventive measures\u201d until her trial begins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

International organizations, including the United Nations, and human rights groups have accused Venezuela of forcing detainees into making false confessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t my intention. It was humor. It was copied from another \u2014\u201d Mata de Gil says before the video is abruptly cut off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n