From the 9th anniversary post of the great Venezuelan satire website El Chigüire Bipolar (The Bipolar Capybara):

No way is this a normal democracy. It stopped being one a long time ago. But whether we were in that ideal scenario, or in this reality that the Galactic Commander and his obese heir have tried to impose on us, we would always play an opposition role.

Because from our point of view, the role of humor is, through words, sentences, and ideas, to denounce what is happening and to make us all reflect on our circumstances. To be a funny radar of the sad reality in which we have to live.

There are more than enough talented people creating very serious narratives about our daily life. But we try to tell the story from our side of the street. Because we believe that this task should be performed in all possible scenarios. With all the tools at hand. We could put on a wig, make silly gestures, or make fart jokes, but we chose the harder path. That of political humor. That’s the way we are, pardon us.

Now more than opposition, we must play a role of resistance. We’ll have to be smarter, to spin a finer web, to use a sharper pencil. We’ll keep doing our job, seeking to stick more messages between the lines. On the way, we’ll keep hearing that this is no moment for jokes. Yes, we know. That’s why we want to make even more of them now.

See also: “Why Dictators Don’t Like Jokes,” by Srdja Popovic and Mladen Joksic of Serbia’s Otpor movement.