Democracy Dies in Darkness

A woman’s TikTok video mocked Venezuelan politicians. She was arrested.

April 19, 2022 at 7:49 a.m. EDT
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab, shown in 2017, has accused 72-year-old Olga Mata de Gil of “inciting the assassination of public figures.” (Ariana Cubillos/AP)
5 min

With her hair pulled up with a red bandanna, a 72-year-old woman carefully shapes round blobs of dough while making arepas, a Venezuelan food staple typically stuffed with cheese, meat, avocado and beans.

The nicknames Olga Mata de Gil gave her arepas were the punchlines in her TikTok video — and would eventually leave her charged with “inciting hatred,” a crime related to terrorism in Venezuela, according to her arrest warrant.