Rayma Suprani

Rayma Suprani is a Venezuelan political cartoonist persecuted by the government, first under President Hugo Chávez, and now under his successor Nicolás Maduro. For more than 19 years, Suprani worked at El Universal, one of Venezuela’s largest dailies. She faced criticism from state media and government supporters for her satirical cartoons, but continued to publish her work until 2014. In September of that year, Suprani published a cartoon that mocked the legacy of Hugo Chávez and the state of the Venezuelan health care system. The edition was censored by the government and she was fired hours after the cartoon was published. Rayma’s fight for freedom of expression is depicted in the film Caricaturists-Footsoldiers of Democracy.