Eric Brown’s guest column demonstrated hypocrisy in two ways: Its title and its content emphasized why the viral video explaining today’s situation in Venezuela is one-sided. He then went on to emphasize the few improvements the Venezuelan government has accomplished while completely disregarding the country’s significant increase in murders, scarcity in basic day-to-day needs, tyrant rule over peaceful protests and censorship of the media.
Venezuela’s murder rate in 1999, before Hugo Chavez’s presidency, was 25 per 100,000 people. By 2011, it rose to 45.1 per 100,000, ranking it the fourth most-dangerous country in the world.
Furthermore, supermarkets country-wide lack basic staples such as flour, sugar, milk, toothpaste, napkins and even toilet paper. But Brown refused to acknowledge this while emphasizing the government’s achievements in eradicating poverty.
Brown then attempted to defend people’s arguments as to the media censoring by stating that most newspapers are anti-Chavez. In a democracy, regardless of a news station’s bias — and I think we can all agree they are obvious throughout American news outlets — they are allowed freedom of the press, they are still able to communicate news as well as opinions, like you so proudly did in this newspaper. The media in Venezuela is being completely censored and TV channels are being shut down daily. The fact that they have a known bias is not a reason for the government to censor them.
It is beyond my understanding why the Alligator would publish something of this sort. It is your duty as a newspaper to inform, and the publishing of this article does everything but that. With a quick Google search, you can see the enormous global efforts that Venezuelans have made to raise awareness of the horrific situation the country currently faces.
Venezuelans are risking their lives in search of peace and a democracy. Because not everyone has the opportunity to be there, those not in Venezuela are doing their best to attract worldwide attention to this matter. The Alligator chose to publish an opinion stating the “one-sidedness” of a video when the purpose was nothing beyond a plea for global awareness. Venezuelans are asking for the basic rights and freedom they lack, which can be taken for granted when they are constantly present.
Venezuela is at a halt right now, but this writer believes these protests are useless and uncalled for. The Alligator has completely disregarded the global effort of Venezuelans, and by allowing this opinion to be published, it is omitting very crucial information and allowing those who are unaware form opinions based on incomplete information.
[Marion Martorell is a UF mathematics sophomore. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 2/28/2014 under the headline "Venezuela column wrong"]
