The post-electoral context in Venezuela was dominated by Anti-government protests against the proclamation of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential electionsHowever, the repression in the streets against protesters today has left more than 2,200 detained and 23 dead, according to figures from the NGO Foro Penal.
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Faced with this, Venezuelans have found ways to demonstrate their discontent with the results, which they consider a fraud, and they have not only done so through social networks where memes, songs and anonymous comments are part of the protest, but these “cries” against the Venezuelan regime now even take over the universe of online video games.
The Roblox platform, where players can create worlds and experiences that they share with other users, has become a space for children and young people to recreate protests that are “called” through the social network X.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, of the 1,503 detainees confirmed by the organization, 129 are teenagers and several have autism.
Roblox users are mostly minors, as that is how the video game created in 2004 was conceived.
“Roblox is a game that has multiple games, one of them is Brookhaven, where children join a server and play. Normally it is to create and decorate houses, to have shops, animals and cars,” a young man who participated in “virtual protests” against Maduro told EL TIEMPO.
“There will be a protest today at 8:00 pm” and “everyone go online and protest” are some of the messages posted by users on X.
Why are Venezuelan children and adolescents protesting?
In The video game “protests” show characters dressed as young people, carrying Venezuelan flags and banners with messages against Maduro and others in support of María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
Children and adolescents are one of the most affected sectors of the population over more than two decades of socio-political conflict in Venezuela.
Some banners call for “respect for human rights” and others demand the resignation of the Venezuelan president.
“Children and adolescents constitute one of the most affected sectors of the population throughout more than two decades of socio-political conflict in Venezuela, whose rights to health, food, education, protection, security, under the impact of the Complex Humanitarian Emergency that the country is suffering and the massive migratory exoduswhich has involved in many cases, the loss or separation from their parents and relatives,” Mireya Lozada, coordinator of the Political Psychology Unit of the Psychology Institute of the Central University of Venezuela, tells this newspaper.
For the researcher, this is one of the reasons why minors have become involved in these practices.
Lozada also considers that lVenezuelan children and young people live and suffer the consequences of the multidimensional crisis that affects them. “They participate in the dynamics of protests, citizen complaints and echo them through different means, including online games, because digital media is part of their daily lives,” he said.
It should be remembered that minors do not escape persecution by the Maduro regime. According to the NGO Foro Penal, of the 1,503 detainees confirmed by the organization, 129 are teenagers, several of whom have autism. In addition, the young Edixson Arévalo, detained in the state of Barias, suffered facial paralysis during his arrest.
Social media blocks do not prevent participation in them
Today, Venezuela has been blocking social network X for 13 days on orders from Nicolás MaduroHowever, this has not stopped people from continuing to obtain information through it or from continuing to protest in it.
Although VPN use was not widespread in the country, it was familiar to a large sector of the population, since more than 10 years ago, internet sites began to be blocked in Venezuela, including the EL TIEMPO website. For this reason, ingenuity is the order of the day to circumvent the restrictions that the government intends to impose on web spaces.
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