Central Interference: Hugo Chavez Thinks Videogames Are Poison

The long line of politicians interested in raising political capital by attacking videogames can add another high profile figure to their ranks in the person of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, who has attacked the console industry and Nintendo and Sony specifically for creating titles that focus on violence and the promotion of capitalism instead of local values.

Hugo Chavez has a weekly television show, which also enjoys a significant radio audience, called “Alo Presidente,” and he used it to prompt toy makers in Venezuela to create toys and dolls, which have a clear educational value.

He also told them to add more facial and corporeal features that are based on indigenous people and not focus on the looks of the Barbie doll that has “nothing to do with our culture.” Chavez then took on the PlayStation home gaming console line from Sony, saying that “Those games they call 'PlayStation' are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game, 'you've got to find Chavez to kill him'.”

As politicians in other countries, like the United States and the United Kingdom, he also blamed videogames for many of the society’s sins, but with a socialist twist, saying they “promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them. That's capitalism, the road to hell.”

During October 2009, the lawmakers in Venezuela adopted a measure that restricts the sale of those videogames described as “bellicose” and introduces punishments of up to five years in prison for those who still stock them. The rather ambiguous description of the titles banned from sale shows the true colors of the measure that is only designed to keep some videogames out of Venezuela if their content is threatening to the socialist regime of Chavez.