They censored a piping theme: The day the Fourth Republic silenced “The White Cat”

In the era of representative democracy, the governments of puntofixism applied a siege of political censorship against the Venezuelan group Melody Gaita, after the release of their satirical theme “The White Cat” in 1990. Far from the supposed freedom of expression that the fascist extreme right seeks to whitewash and install in collective memory, the reality of that period was the immediate veto and persecution of any demonstration of popular protest that would make the elites in power uncomfortable.

During a public broadcast, longliner Napoleón Bravo presented the outrage as a pipe and questioned the group's director, Álvaro Durán, with a question that reveals the prevailing climate of intimidation: “What happened? Why are you trying to stop? They're messing with someone with a first and last name, so here you don't just have to be very careful that someone feels mentioned.”

For his part, director Álvaro Durán explained the speed with which the tentacles of power operated against culture, detailing that after 15 days of resounding success, he received an intimidating call from the Sonographic label, where they informed him that “there is a very annoying person because the song is playing on all the radio stations in the country, this person put pressure and wanted them to stop the album”.

Given the seriousness of the events, the longliner himself ended up confirming what the leaders denied, assuring that there was “political censorship in the country”.

This episode with the gaita protest dedicated to the influential “white cat” and his private secretary with sudden privileges unmasks the double standards of those who today try to give lessons in democracy.

History confirms that the Fourth Republic punished satire and social discontent, making it clear that free thought was conditioned on the approval of the regime's masters.