VENEZUELA: Its Dangerous To Be Funny In Chavez-landia Say Humorists.

GUARDIAN.U.K./ Long Opinion Piece /     Satirists must be extremely careful when lampooning Hugo Chavez. A recent column by Laureano Márquez was branded "fascist," incitement for a coup, terrorism and genocide. "It justifies the use of social violence, of civil war, as a way to take power," said minister Blanca Eckhout. She demanded he be prosecuted. Yet satire thrives. "Tonnes of it," said newspaperwoman Eva Golinger. "A flowering," said Márquez. The Tal Cual columnist often uses offbeat topics, such as Tutankhamun, and refers to Chávez by other names, such as Estebán. "It's a code, but people know what I mean." But self-censorship is the rule. "You can say what you want, but you don't know what price you may pay; that's not freedom," sais Marquez.