Caracas, Nov 10 (EFE) .- A message or opinion that is made public in Venezuela and that is considered by the Government as an insult or expression of "hatred" could lead to prison ordinary citizens, to close media and to sanction political parties thanks to a controversial law that has just entered into force in the country.

The "Law against hate", which consists of 25 Articles and two transitory provisions, was unanimously approved Wednesday by the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), an organ formed only by loyalists to the call Bolivarian revolution that lacks legitimacy in the eyes of many governments.

According to the first article, the law aims to "contribute to generate conditions necessary to promote and guarantee the recognition of diversity, tolerance, reciprocal respect, as well as to prevent and eradicate all kinds of hatred, contempt, harassment, Discrimination and violence ".

However, its implementation has been criticized by the Venezuelan Parliament, which has an opposition majority, which assures that the Government of Nicolás Maduro seeks This legal framework promotes and does not prevent hatred and intolerance in a country already marked by political polarization.

In the political sphere, parties are expressly forbidden promote "fascism, intolerance or hatred" of any kind "that constitutes incitement to discrimination and violence"; they will be able to participate in electoral processes.

The Law obliges social media to disseminate 30 messages a week free of messages to promote "peace, tolerance, equality, respect and diversity "and will punish those who refuse with fines of up to 4% of the total gross income of the fiscal year of the year immediately preceding the lack.

The center of gravity of the law is in article 20, which literally states: "Who publicly (...) encourages, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence against a person or group of people (...) will be punished with imprisonment of 10 to 20 years. "

This section opens the possibility that any opinion that is expressed" through any means suitable for public dissemination "will be evaluated under the parameters of this law, so that forms of expression such as the comments of ordinary citizens in the networks could become evidence of their own crimes.

On "responsibility in social networks", the Law only specifies that the expressions of Internet users "that promote war or incite national hatred "are prohibited, although it does not expressly indicate if what is written on these platforms could have legal consequences for the denominator common.

For the media, however, the text does foresee fines of up to 100,000 tax units (equivalent to 30 million bolivars, almost $ 9,000 at the exchange rate). official) for the dissemination of expressions of hatred and intolerance that are maintained in these electronic channels for more than six hours.

Chavismo, who governs Venezuela since 1999, has underlined the benefits of this legal tool to guarantee values �??�??and principles such as "love, peace, democracy, coexistence, justice, equality, freedom, tolerance, respect and the pre-eminence of human rights "like life.

In this effort, the law also contemplates that educational centers and institutions become in spaces "of and for peace, diversity, tolerance, equality, mutual respect and solidary coexistence", and obliges the State institutions to work in an "indeclinable" way to fulfill this purpose.

September 21 is also decreed as the "National Day of Peace" and May as the "National Month for the Promotion of Peace, Coexistence, and the Fight against Intolerance ".

The green light to these 25 articles that speak of" eradicating any form of political violence "has given way to speculation about the possibility that the authorities imprison those who give opinions contrary to the government in spaces such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The promoters of this initiative argued to the exhaustion that the law will put it curbs the "extremist sectors" of the opposition, whom they accuse of having provoked the wave of protests that shook the country between April and July and left 120 dead.