Show Notes
For more than half a century, Radio Caracas Televisión, or RCTV, broadcast news, sports, comedies, and telenovelas in Venezuela. Its news coverage was also fiercely critical of President Hugo Chávez.
When RCTV's broadcast license expired, the government refused to renew it. Minutes later, a state-funded channel took its place.
RCTV was one target in a broader campaign to silence dissent. Under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, the government gradually tightened its grip on the media, punished political dissent, and weakened institutions that had protected democratic freedoms.
A new documentary, Escaping Venezuela, traces the erosion of free speech and press freedom through the story of Carlos Mora, who was imprisoned and tortured after helping Venezuelan dissidents escape to Colombia.
Joining us are director Jim Epstein and narrator Germania Rodríguez Poleo to discuss the film and how Venezuela's democratic institutions broke down.
Read more about Escaping Venezuela here.
Read Germania's Reason article here.
Timestamps:
Intro
Fear and self-censorship under Chavez
Making Escaping Venezuela
Germania's family and the crackdown on journalists
The destruction of Venezuela's free press
How Venezuela silenced dissent
RCTV as a symbol for press freedom
Venezuela after Maduro's capture
How Venezuela embraced socialism and Chavez came to power
Venezuelan immigrants and the end of TPS
Can Venezuela become a democracy again?
Where to watch Escaping Venezuela
Outro
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