The Community of Madrid has expressed its rejection of the screening of two feature films that Casa América will show starting next week, as part of the event ‘Cinema and Memory: the voice of the people and the struggle for sovereignty’, for «whitewashing and exalting the Chavista regime.»
This was conveyed by the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Sports, Mariano de Paco, through a letter sent to the Director General of Casa América, León de la Torre, which Europa Press has had access to. In the letter, he asks for the defense of democracy and freedom.
«I want to formally convey the strong protest of the Government of the Community of Madrid for the screening of at least two feature films — ‘Operation Orion’ and ‘The Battle of the Bridges’ — which represent a perverse attempt to whitewash and exalt the Chavista regime, which, as you know, daily violates human rights in Venezuela,» the minister lamented.
De Paco emphasized that this programming «gives a voice to those who applaud, defend, and collaborate with the Venezuelan dictatorship» and pointed out that it «violates the basic rules of any democratic institution.»
«To promote dialogue with those who impose themselves by force, trample the popular outcry expressed at the polls, and persecute the opposition causing the exile of thousands of people is not the objective of Casa América. I ask you to take this protest into account, which the Community will officially convey and defend in the governing bodies of Casa de América, taking appropriate measures in this regard,» he indicated.
According to the public consortium’s website, ‘Operation Orion’, which will be screened this Monday, March 17, is based «on real events about the failed paramilitary invasion and assassination attempt against President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 2004.»
On the other hand, ‘The Battle of the Bridges’, which will be broadcast next Monday, March 24, «talks about how the Venezuelan people and the Bolivarian National Armed Forces resisted the attempt of opposition forces to forcibly enter the country on February 23, 2019.»
FUENTE
