Synopsis

 

Venezuela: Repression in paradise is a feature length documentary about the repression and struggle that the people of Venezuela have endured over the last 5 months of protests.

 

Sparked by the dissolution of the legislature by President Nicolas Maduro, millions of people took to the streets to protest what could only be described as a self-coup by the narco-government of Maduro. After the death of Hugo Chavez, years of a worsening economic crisis and the growing popularity of the unified opposition parties, Maduro manipulated negotiations which would have led to a referendum against him in late 2016 which paved the way to the current constitutional crisis.

 

His options running out, on March 29th, 2017 Maduro played his last card by having his puppet Supreme Court assume all powers from the opposition-controlled legislature, the National Assembly. Though the decision was quickly reversed after mounting international pressure, the people had had enough. They took to the streets in what would be the start of an ever escalating 4-month long act of civil disobedience. As the protests grew, in size and intensity, Maduro’s authoritarian state decided to consolidate his power grab and become a full-fledged dictatorship.

 

The film’s narrative unfolds through a series of interviews with eye-witnesses in between raw footage of the most impactful events in the 2017 protests. Witness first-hand the events that unfolded in Venezuela and the massive protests that rocked a nation.