{{Short description|Venezuelan artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Rayma Suprani | image = Rayma Suprani 2008.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|04|22}} | education = Central University of Venezuela | occupation = Cartoonist, activist | website = {{URL|raymasuprani.com}} }} '''Rayma Suprani''' (born 22 April 1969) is a Venezuelan cartoonist. In 2014 she was dismissed by the newspaper ''El Universal'' for drawing a cartoon criticizing the late president Hugo Chávez. While Chávez loyalists have had harsh words for her criticism of the regime, others have praised her for her “distinctive powers of observation” and “fine intelligence.”<ref name=rev>{{cite web| last =Mendoza| first =Alejandro Celedon| title =Rayma Suprani: "Digo todo lo que pienso"| work =Revista Etiqueta| url =http://www.revistaetiqueta.net/rayma-suprani-digo-todo-lo-que-pienso/| url-status =dead| archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20150518090523/http://www.revistaetiqueta.net/rayma-suprani-digo-todo-lo-que-pienso/| archivedate =2015-05-18}}</ref> She was forced to leave the country and now lives in exile in Miami, Florida<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rayma Suprani |url=https://oslofreedomforum.com/speaker/rayma-suprani/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Oslo Freedom Forum |language=en-US}}</ref>
The critic Alfonso Molina praised her work, writing that the “work of Rayma Suprani in ''El Universal'' unites intelligence, sensitivity and talent to express our life as a country through very sharp vignettes that are not intended to make us laugh but to make us think. Journalist and cartoonist, she manages to communicate her ideas in a very personal way, but always with a collective sense.”<ref name=dig>{{cite web| title =LA IRREVERENCIA DE CARLOS ZERPA| work =Noticiero Digital| url =http://blogs.noticierodigital.com/alfonso/?cat=9&paged=2| access-date =12 May 2015| archive-date =18 May 2015| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150518082204/http://blogs.noticierodigital.com/alfonso/?cat=9&paged=2| url-status =dead}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Born in Caracas, Venezuela,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2015-08-17 |title=RAYMA - Cartooning for Peace |url=https://www.cartooningforpeace.org/en/dessinateurs/rayma/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |language=fr}}</ref> Suprani began painting as a teenager and trained for several years in the workshop of Pedro Centeno Vallenilla. When she took up cartooning, she gave up painting for a long time.<ref name=rev/>
She graduated with a degree in journalism from the Central University of Venezuela.<ref name=":1" />
==Career== At a very early age, she began to work for the journal ''Economics Today''. She has worked at various newspapers in Caracas such as ''El Diaro Economica Hoy'' and ''El Diario de Caracas'',<ref name=":1" /> she later became the principal cartoonist at ''El Universal''.<ref name=rev/> Suprani was ''El Universal'''s chief cartoonist for 19 years where she often faced criticism from state media and government supporters regarding her satirical cartoons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rayma Suprani {{!}} Duke Forum for Scholars and Publics |url=https://fsp.duke.edu/speakers/rayma-suprani/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Duke FSP |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Art exhibition=== In 2012, having returned to large-format work, Suprani held her first solo exhibition, “Frente al espejo” (Facing the Mirror), at the Galería D’Museo del Centro de Arte Los Galpones de Los Dos Caminos.<ref name=rev/> A writer for ''El Universal'' noted that Suprani's canvases displayed “the same critical spirit that has characterized her drawings and cartoons from the beginning. Scathing, sometimes. Ironic, sometimes. Corrosive, almost always.”<ref>{{cite web| title =Rayma Suprani le imprime ahora su humor al lienzo| work =El Universal| date =Feb 1, 2012| url =http://www.eluniversal.com/arte-y-entretenimiento/120201/rayma-suprani-le-imprime-ahora-su-humor-al-lienzo}}</ref> “It is another Rayma Suprani,” wrote Alfonso Molina about the exhibition. The paintings, he maintained, represented “a demonstration of strength and courage that excited me, showed me another side of the same creator.”<ref name=dig/>
===Other activities=== Suprani has also drawn magazine covers, and the best of her cartoons have been collected in books.<ref>{{cite web| last =Martinez| first =Belibert Ramirez| title =En Clave de Sir / Su habilidad para llegar a la gente los convirtió en marca| work =Guanipa Noticias| date =Jan 18, 2014| url =http://www.guanipanoticias.com.ve/Portal/index.php/noticias-de-especiales/9057-en-clave-de-sir-su-habilidad-para-llegar-a-la-gente-los-convirtio-en-marca}}</ref> She is an active member of the Cartooning for Peace Organization.<ref name=":0" /> She is one of several protagonists in the film ''Caricaturists—Foot Soldiers of Democracy'', by Stéphanie Valloatto.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-26 |title=Rayma Suprani |url=https://pen.org/user/rayma-suprani/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=PEN America |language=en}}</ref>
===Dismissal=== According to ''the Guardian'', her last cartoon, published in ''El Universal'' on September 17, 2014, “showed a normal-looking electrocardiogram under the heading 'Health', and below it the late former president Hugo Chávez's signature merging with a flatlining heartbeat under the words 'Health in Venezuela'.” The cartoon, wrote ''the Guardian'', “combined two nationally sensitive subjects: the legacy of Chávez, and the socialist government's management of the healthcare system.”<ref name=guard>{{cite web| title =Venezuelan cartoonist 'fired' over healthcare satire | work =The Guardian| date =Sep 18, 2014| url =https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/venezuelan-cartoonist-fired-healthcare-satire}}</ref>
''The Guardian'' noted that medical personnel had “long claimed the economic chaos engulfing the country has led to chronic shortages of drugs and medical supplies,” and further pointed out that since Chávez's death the previous year, “his signature, always printed in red, has become a symbol of loyalty to the leader....It has been stamped across buildings and can often be seen tattooed on the arms of his supporters.”<ref name=guard/>
Only hours after the publication of the cartoon, Suprani was fired. “My immediate boss called me and told me he didn't like my caricature and I was out,” she said. “We've become a country where if you say things, have your own criteria and try to provoke reflection, it's not well viewed.” ''The Guardian'' stated that ''El Universal'' had recently been sold to “a little-known Spanish company called Epalistica, which employees at the newspaper allege is a front for a pro-government group of investors,” and that since the sale, the paper had shifted from an anti-government stance to a more government-friendly stance, resulting in the dismissal or resignation of several columnists.<ref name=guard/> The newspaper ''El Tiempo'' also stated that since its change of ownership, ''El Universal'' had become more pro-government. “The government has gone and bought the news media that it can't silence,” Suprani said in an interview on ''Unionradio'', noting the government's previous acquisition of ''Globovisión'' and of the newspapers that had formerly belonged to Cadena Capriles.<ref name="tiem">{{cite web |last=Martiz |first=Valentina Lares |date=Sep 18, 2014 |title=La caricatura por la que despidieron a Rayma de El Universal |url=http://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/latinoamerica/despiden-a-caricaturista-rayma-de-diario-el-universal-de-venezuela/14552275 |work=El Tiempo}}</ref>
After the news of her dismissal was reported, Henrique Capriles and other opposition figures responded to Suprani's dismissal by tweeting their respect for her.<ref name=tiem/> Suprani herself wrote on Twitter that “we will carry on through other, smaller avenues but with endless creativity.”<ref name=guard/>
Suprani was scheduled to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2015 as well as the Freedom House organization on the subject of the defense of human rights.<ref name=":1" />
==Personal life== Suprani has three dogs, Lucy, Blue and Churchill, and a cat named Osho.<ref name=rev/>
==References== {{Commons category}} {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Suprani, Rayma}} Category:Venezuelan democracy activists Category:Venezuelan human rights activists Category:Venezuelan women human rights activists Category:Living people Category:Venezuelan artists Category:1969 births