Venezuela Protests: Riots And Violence Escalate While Government Cracks Down On Media

[Dino Velvet]

http://www.ibtimes.com/venezuela-protests-riots-violence-escalate-while-government-cracks-down-media-protesters-video.


http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2014/02/20/venezuela-riots.jpg
A supporter of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez jumps over a burning barricade during a protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 19, 2014. Tensions have risen in Venezuela since Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, surrendered to troops on Tuesday after spearheading three weeks of often rowdy demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's government. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlin

http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2014/02/20/genesis-carmona.jpg
Opposition supporter Genesis Carmona is evacuated on a motorcycle after being shot in the head during a protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Valencia, some 100 miles (160 km) from Caracas, February 18, 2014. A 22-year-old student from the central city of Valencia died on Wednesday after being shot in the head during an anti-government demonstration, her family said, the fifth victim of unrest in Venezuela. Genesis Carmona, who was studying tourism and was also a local beauty queen, was shot during a demonstration in Valencia on Tuesday, relatives told. Picture taken February 18, 2014. Reuters/Mauricio Centeno-Notitarde

[Always_aUnicorn]

Thanks for caring and sharing

[Always_aUnicorn]

This is one of the most coherent accounts I have read of the situation in Venezuela. http://www.thenation.com/article/178496/lasalida-venezuela-crossroads

[fred41]

This is one of the most coherent accounts I have read of the situation in Venezuela. http://www.thenation.com/article/178496/lasalida-venezuela-crossroads

Here's an opposing view...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/24/venezuela-s-useful-idiots.html

[talldudeil]

I spent a month there in 2011 in Valencia, wonderful people, great food and happy to meet the "white" man. You have 2 classes upper middle class and poor. The poor believe in the government because they are given everything they need. During the last election it was decreed that all workers would work 32 hours per week and get paid for 40. The "brain trust" those with means and opportunity have already left the country.

There are reports of over 3 million people that have left the country. My friend in Valencia is one of the lucky in that he is successful, he is unlucky because of the same reason. The government has given guns to local groups of men to stop the protests. Mind me not police, military or anyone with training. And they will not be punished if they kill protesters.

The students (which receive free education) want to make it a better country. It would be an ideal vacation location as the country has mountains, beaches, 2 oceans, friendly people, great fresh food everywhere and nightlife (not to mention really gorgeous T's).

I am sorry to see it happen but hope it leads to a change in the government. They export nothing and have so many great food to export. Any company that gets to be profitable is taken over by the government. It is deplorable what is happening but there is not much that people outside of the country can do. Just hope and pray that all turns out well.

[Ben]

Destabilization Plan Against Venezuela:

http://www.chavezcode.com/2013/11/document-evidences-destabilization-plan.html

[Ben]

Destabilization Plan Against Venezuela:

http://www.chavezcode.com/2013/11/document-evidences-destabilization-plan.html

As Eva Golinger points out in her article: "During the 14 years of President Hugo Chavez’s democratic governance, threats against his administration were abundant and destabilization plans never ceased. After the failure of the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez, which was defeated by his millions of supporters and was organized by the US government, there were numerous attempts to oust him through economic sabotages, electoral interventions, assassination plots, psychological warfare, multimillion-dollar funding to opposition groups from US agencies and a plan to isolate Venezuela on an international level, that never had success."
Point is: should we be interfering in other countries because we don't like their representatives? What if Venezuela had tried to overthrow Bush in 2002? How do you think we would've reacted?
One of the things I liked about Ron Paul, well, he pointed out: we should mind our own business.

Bruce Fein Explains Ron Paul's Foreign Policy Beautifully - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTkKpW2dg4Y)

[Dino Velvet]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/food-line-venezuela-now-181451026.html


This Is A Food Line In Venezuela

http://media.zenfs.com/284/2011/06/08/biz-insider-65x27_102440.gif (http://www.businessinsider.com/) By Linette Lopez 44 minutes ago


REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
People line up to buy food at a supermarket in San Cristobal, about 410 miles (660 km) southwest of Caracas, Feb. 27, 2014. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis called Wednesday for an end to violence in Venezuela that has killed at least 13 people and urged politicians to take the lead in calming the nation's worst unrest in a decade.
One of the reasons Venezuelans have been protesting all over the country for weeks is because of mass shortages of food and other goods.
In December, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez compared the country's astonishing inflation rate to Zimbabwe's (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303997604579238071420235120). Consumer prices have risen 56% since Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013.
This line gives you a pretty stunning impression of what that's like — of how many Venezuelans have to get in line for hours to feed themselves and their families every day.
The photo was taken in San Cristobal, the capital city of the Venezuelan mountainous western state of Táchira. It's one of the epicenters of the protests, in which at least 15 have died.
And the demonstrations show no signs of abating, despite Lopez's arrest last week.
On Wednesday, the government announced new measures to try to stem inflation by creating a secondary market in which state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA, individuals and other companies can purchase dollars.
President Nicolas Maduro is trying a little less-orthodox measures to quell protests as well. This week he announced an early start to the country's pre-Lenten Carnival festivities, meant to take place this weekend.
"The oligarchy wants to take Carnival away from the people," said Maduro to a crowd of supporters on Wednesday. "Do you all agree with that?
"No," they cried.
"Do you want me to suspend Carnival this year," he asked.
"No!"
He went on to ask if they wanted him to take Carnival from kids and cultural groups. (Of course not.)
"That is fascism," he continued. "To take from the people their cultural rights, their right to Carnival is pure fascism!
Despite that compelling argument, it seems the protestors aren't heading to the beach to party on Maduro's order. They're still in the streets. The protester in the center of the picture below, taken outside a metro station in Caracas, is holding a sign that reads, "We'll trade you Carnival for security and food."
Pancartazo en la salida del Metro Sabana Grande, #Caracas (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Caracas&src=hash) pic.twitter.com/6tBUmX3ca3 (http://t.co/6tBUmX3ca3) (vía @ActivismoPJ (https://twitter.com/ActivismoPJ)) #28F (https://twitter.com/search?q=%2328F&src=hash)
— El Universal (@ElUniversal) February 28, 2014 (https://twitter.com/ElUniversal/statuses/439457386093625344)http://globalfinance.zenfs.com/en_us/Finance/US_AFTP_SILICONALLEY_H_LIVE/This_Is_A_Food_Line-41132df53130cda366119775a9eade33

[fred41]

As Eva Golinger points out in her article: "During the 14 years of President Hugo Chavez’s democratic governance, threats against his administration were abundant and destabilization plans never ceased. After the failure of the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez, which was defeated by his millions of supporters and was organized by the US government, there were numerous attempts to oust him through economic sabotages, electoral interventions, assassination plots, psychological warfare, multimillion-dollar funding to opposition groups from US agencies and a plan to isolate Venezuela on an international level, that never had success."
Point is: should we be interfering in other countries because we don't like their representatives? What if Venezuela had tried to overthrow Bush in 2002? How do you think we would've reacted?
One of the things I liked about Ron Paul, well, he pointed out: we should mind our own business.



Eva Gollinger always comes across as an over zealous government shill...probably because that's what she is.

[broncofan]

I wonder if all of those people in the picture above are really Harvard trained elites trying to make the Maduro government look bad. (that's a joke based on the implausible strain in the Nation article). Without being able to independently verify which view is more accurate, the Moynihan article sounds more plausible. Since when is it acceptable to quash all dissent because you think the opposition is really a Western front? Would we be able to abuse protesters if we argue they're fifth column commies?

Edit: and btw I am not suggesting I actually think the protesters are agents of a power foreign to Venezuela. But is this the first time we've heard that excuse for repressing freedom of expression? Notice how many times the nebulous word "elite" is used in the Nation article. What makes someone an elite?

[Ben]

The Washington Post Uses Biased Experts to Promote Propaganda on Venezuela:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/03/03/venezuela-establishment-media-enables-powerful-vested-interests/

[Dino Velvet]

Paranoid fuck even thinks Obama is gunning for him too.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-maduro-gives-ultimatum-caracas-protesters-221146286.html

Venezuela's Maduro gives ultimatum to Caracas protesters

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/d/0c/d0c3eb8ca18907492a4b337b5cec5193.jpeg (http://www.reuters.com/) By Deisy Buitrago and Andrew Cawthorne 1 hour ago


By Deisy Buitrago and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro warned protesters in Caracas on Saturday to clear a square they have made their stronghold, or face eviction by security forces.
Plaza Altamira, in upscale east Caracas, has been a focus of anti-government protests and violence during six weeks of unrest around Venezuela that has killed 28 people.
"I'm giving the Chuckys, the killers, just a few hours," Maduro said, using the name of a murderous child-doll in a horror film to describe anti-government demonstrators who have made the normally genteel 1940s square a base of operations.
"If they don't retreat, I'm going to liberate those spaces with the security forces," Maduro added. "They have a few hours to go home ... Chuckys, get ready, we're coming for you."
Students and other protesters have been using the square, in the pro-opposition Chacao district of Caracas, as a rallying point since a wave of protests started to gather steam in mid-February.
Most nights around dusk, a hard core of several hundred demonstrators has been fighting police and army lines there, in an attempt to access a nearby highway and block traffic.
On Friday night, for example, security forces used water cannon and teargas in a battle against protesters using stones and petrol bombs, Reuters witnesses said.
At least a dozen people were arrested, and the noise of the fighting echoed across east Caracas for several hours.
In a speech at a military rally, Maduro also alleged that right-wingers in the State Department and Pentagon were recommending extreme measures against the Venezuela government, including economic sanctions and even his assassination.
"President (Barack) Obama, if this message reaches you, you should know that it would be the worst mistake of your life to sign the authorization of the assassination of President Nicolas Maduro," he said in a high-octane speech recalling his predecessor Hugo Chavez's spats with the United States.
The U.S. government says Maduro, like Chavez, is inventing "imperialist" threats to distract Venezuelans' attention from their domestic political divisions and economic problems.
But U.S. antipathy to the Socialist government has been in evidence since the start of Chavez's 1999-2013 rule, not least in Washington's quick recognition of a brief 2002 coup against him.
Chavez died from cancer last year, with his protege Maduro, a 51-year-old former bus driver, winning a vote to replace him.
As well as the 28 deaths, including supporters of both sides and members of the security forces, more than 300 people have been injured in Venezuela's worst unrest in a decade.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested, of whom about 100 are still in jail. They include 21 security officials accused of using excess force.
Maduro says he has seen off a "coup" attempt, and he does not look in danger of being toppled by a "Venezuelan Spring," with the military apparently still behind him.
But a radical rump of students and hardline political leaders are vowing to stay in the streets until Maduro goes. They were planning a march in Caracas on Sunday to protest the presence of Cuban advisers for Venezuela's armed forces.
As dusk fell on Saturday, there were only a handful of protesters in Altamira Square, but some demonstrators were starting to put up barricades of rubbish on other streets in the zone.
(editing by Gunna Dickson)

http://rt.com/files/news/20/fe/90/00/twitter-liberation-maduro-venezuela.jpg
"Chuckys, get ready, we're coming for you."