Venezuela

[frigidmagi]

[youtube][/youtube]

I should note that the video is not objective and has been produced by the anti-government side. I should also note, that I am on the anti-government side and have been for a long time.

One action that poured fuel on the fire was the arrest of a major leader of the opposition, a former mayor of Chacao Municipality of Caracas who was sanctioned by Hugo Chavez and blocked from running for office until this year. The government blamed him for formenting the protests and had him arrested.

CNN

Venezuelan prosecutors dropped the most serious charges against opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, whom the country's president had blamed for inciting clashes that have left at least five people dead, his lawyers said Thursday.

Lopez, one of the leading opposition figures in Venezuela, was formally charged with arson and conspiracy, but murder and terrorism charges were dropped, said his attorney, Juan Carlos Gutierrez.

If convicted, Lopez could face up to 10 years in prison.

Lopez's legal team welcomed the reduced charges, though it criticized the way the judicial process was being carried out.

Wednesday night's hearing, to charge Lopez and determine whether he would be released or remain behind bars, took place in an unusual spot: a bus parked outside the prison where he is being held.

"It seems very unorthodox," Gutierrez told CNN en Español.

The initial court appearance was to take place in a courtroom, but because of security concerns, officials wanted to move it to the prison.

Gutierrez argued that inside a prison was not a proper venue for a hearing, so the strange solution was reached: the bus-turned-courtroom parked just outside the facility.

The prison, outside the capital, Caracas, is a military facility, and Lopez's defense has raised questions about why a civilian is being held there.

The response was that it was a place where the government could guarantee his safety, Gutierrez said.
Lopez turned himself in to authorities this week in a dramatic scene before tens of thousands of supporters he had called to the streets.

The anti-government protests in recent weeks are the largest demonstrations that President Nicolas Maduro has faced in his 11 months in power.

Human rights concerns
Human rights groups warned about the danger of turning the protests into a persecution of political opponents.
The charges against Lopez, who has organized protests demanding better security, an end to shortages and protected freedom of speech, "smack of a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent in the country," Amnesty International said in a prepared statement.

Human Rights Watch weighed in, too, warning that Venezuela must avoid "scapegoating" political opponents.
Venezuelan Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said Thursday that out of about 200 people who were detained during clashes in the past week, only 13 remain in jail for offenses that include illegal gun possession and vandalism.
Rodriguez Torres ridiculed reports that the Venezuelan state is illegally detaining students in an effort to put an end to the protests.

The unrest
Major social and economic problems in Venezuela have fueled the protests. But as the demonstrations gained steam, officials have pointed fingers at other factors, accusing the United States of plotting to destabilize the government.

U.S. President Barack Obama fired back at a news conference in Mexico on Wednesday.

"Venezuela, rather than trying to distract from its own failings by making up false accusations against diplomats from the United States, the government ought to focus on addressing the legitimate grievances of the Venezuelan people," he told reporters.

"So, along with the Organization of American States, we call on the Venezuelan government to release protesters that it's detained, and engage in real dialogue. All parties have an obligation to work together to restrain violence and restore calm."

On Monday, Venezuela gave three U.S. diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, accusing them of conspiring to bring down the government. At a rally Tuesday, Maduro shouted, "Yankee, go home" from the stage, drawing cheers from the crowd.

In a television broadcast Wednesday, Maduro accused Colombian paramilitary forces and the United States of fueling the violence, and he vowed to stand firm against any attempts to overthrow his government.

"And what is the Venezuelan opposition going to do?" he said. "Believe that with the support of (U.S. Secretary of State) John Kerry or Obama, you are going to be able to take political power by violent means?"

This isn't the first time that bitter protests and counterprotests by supporters and opponents of the government have threatened political stability in Venezuela over the past decade.

Many of Maduro's claims -- of U.S. intervention, of assassination plots -- were also lobbed by the late President Hugo Chavez. Chavez was briefly ousted in a coup in 2002, but otherwise outlasted the protests and repeatedly won reelection. He ruled for 14 years, until his death last year after a long battle with cancer.

The protests however have continued

The government of Venezuela has also been working to keep the media out. You can watch as a CNN camera team is basically mugged for their cameras here.

[frigidmagi]

Protests continue, amidst more confrontation and violence the current President of Venezuela has called for Obama to meet him for bi-lateral talks.

Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of Venezuela's government took to the streets of Caracas Saturday amid fears of more violence in the bitterly divided country.

Heeding the call of opposition leader Henrique Capriles, governor of Miranda state and former presidential candidate, anti-government protesters massed near a shopping mall in the Caracas neighborhood of Sucre.

They were expected to demonstrate both in the capital and country-wide against armed groups accused of intimidating and even attacking demonstrators.

"The state should stop these paramilitary groups," said the head of the main opposition coalition, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo.

"It is unacceptable that there are armed groups that are out of control," he told AFP.

Meanwhile, pro-government supporters, mostly women, gathered in the center of the capital.

Leftist President Nicolas Maduro had announced that "millions of women would come out in all of the country's cities" to march "against fascism."

Security was tight in Caracas Saturday. While the rival camps were spilling onto the streets in different parts of the capital, it was feared clashes could erupt if they collided at any point.

- 'Green light' for violence -

Early Saturday, Maduro said remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the unrest gave violent groups a "green light" to carry out attacks.

In a tweet, Maduro also slammed the top US diplomat's remarks late Friday as "arrogant" and "insolent."

"John Kerry threatens Venezuela with more violence, with his statements gives the green light to violent groups to attack our people," Maduro wrote.

Maduro, who denies any links to the armed groups, says the protests are part of a "coup d'etat in development" instigated by Washington and conservative ex-Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.

Kerry had condemned Venezuela's "unacceptable" use of force against anti-government protesters, and declined to respond to a call from Caracas for bilateral talks.

"The government's use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence," he said in a statement.

Maduro's testy response came a day after he challenged President Barack Obama to meet him for talks.

"I call a dialogue with you, President Obama... between the patriotic and revolutionary Venezuela and the United States and its government," he told a news conference with foreign reporters on Friday.

"Accept the challenge and we will start a high-level dialogue and put the truth on the table."

Kerry, however, made no mention of the offer in his comments.

Caracas and Washington have not exchanged ambassadors since their respective envoys were withdrawn in 2010. Venezuela has expelled eight US diplomats over the past year, including three on February 16.

While oil-rich Venezuela's main customer for its key export is the United States, its relations with Washington, long strained under late leftist icon Chavez, have worsened under Maduro.

- Test for Maduro -

The protests -- which began on February 2 -- are seen as the biggest test to Maduro since he succeeded Chavez last year.

They kicked off in the western city of San Cristobal led by students angry over the soaring crime rate. However, they quickly spread to Caracas and other major cities, and have intensified over the past two weeks.

They have also been accompanied by violence and attempts to intimidate protesters.

In the western state of Tachira, student leader Gaby Arellano alleged that groups on motorbikes fired on people protesting by banging on pots at their windows.

In Caracas, AFP journalists have in recent days also seen men on pick-up trucks escorted by motorbikes intimidating protesters.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, but under Maduro and Chavez the economy has tailspinned, street crime is out of control, and corruption is widespread.

Maduro's government warned it would cut off gasoline supplies to restless areas.

Capriles, who lost last year's presidential election to Maduro by a razor-thin margin, is again in the limelight following the Tuesday arrest of another opposition leader, 42-year-old Leopoldo Lopez.

One of the leading organizers of the recent protests against the government, he is being held on charges of instigating violence, property damage and criminal association.

[frigidmagi]

Not Satisfied With Blocking Twitter And TV, Venezuela Shuts Off The Internet

It's a familiar narrative at this point: governments facing mass protests tighten their grip on state-run media outlets and internet providers to keep a lid on incriminating information they'd rather not have broadcast to the entire world.

In Venezuela right now, where protests over food security and the poor economy have snowballed over the past week and become violent riots that have left at least five dead, socialist President Nicolás Maduro’s government is ramping up censorship. Authorities reportedly shut off internet access to a major city and its surrounding area, according to reports collected by EFF last night.

Venezuela’s state-run ISP, CANTV, which controls the majority of the country's internet, cut off traffic to San Cristóbal, the capital city of the state of Tachira and one of the centers of the protests, wrote EFF. I spoke to Marianne Díaz, a lawyer and founder of the activist group Acceso Libre, who said the connection was down throughout the capital and most likely the entire state—a population of over a million.

"We know it was a government mandate because last night, President Maduro gave a speech (a mandatory broadcast in all radio and TV stations) where he (amongst many other things) threatened Tachira, saying he would 'go all in' and that we 'would be surprised' of what he would do, and then internet was cut and tanks went in," Díaz told me over email.

Throughout the last week the government has also restricted TV networks throughout the state, put out fraudulent newspapers promoting the state, and blocked parts of Twitter, Facebook, news sites, and websites of all sorts.

Venezuela has “a pretty tight control over the Internet compared to other countries," Bill Woodcock, an internet traffic expert, told the Washington Post. "Not as tight as Cuba, but probably tighter than anybody else.”

As the protests escalate—exacerbated by a spate of shootings and arrests by regime officials, most notably, Tuesday’s arrest of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez—the government is increasingly exercising that control.

The state announced it will expand the "Strategic Center for Security and Protection of the Fatherland" or CESPPA, a potentially unconstitutional government institution with the broad powers to monitor and censor any online communication it deems a national security threat. It's like the Venezuelan version of the NSA, if the NSA had the power to block the internet as well as spy on it.

"[CESPPA's] structure includes two new Directorates: the Directorate of Information and Technology Studies, which will be in charge of 'processing and analyzing information from the web'; and the Directorate for Social Research, intended to 'neutralize and defeat destabilization plans against the nation,'" EFF wrote. "Whatever that means," Díaz said. "They're there to monitor web content, and censor it as they see fit."

Unsurprisingly, the agency has already drawn the ire of press freedom activists. But to hear Maduro and his administration tell it, footage of the demonstrations constitutes a destabilizing threat; he accused the news media of inciting hatred and trying to overthrow the government, and called protesters "neo-fascists."

State TV and radio have broadcast almost no coverage of the political unrest, and authorities shut down a Colombia-based channel, NTN24, after it reported the death of a student protester. This left opposition groups relying on social media for news updates and to share information, to which the government responded by blocking images on Twitter—specifically, the image server website twimg.com and file-sharing site Pastebin. (Hacktivists then retaliated by attacking various Venezuelan government websites.) According to reports collected by Global Voices, police were also seizing demonstrators' cell phones. The government says it's specifically targeting "violent content."

"However, the controls on the Internet are still dubious," Díaz explained. "A lot of people think that, for instance, the government is purposely slowing down connections in order to disallow video streaming and pictures. Being that the protests aren't being transmitted on TV (there's a prohibition of sorts on that content), people are resorting to videostreaming the protests and the subsequent repression. A particular streaming, days ago, reached at some point 100,000 simultaneous viewers."

It's not the first time web censorship has been used to quell social unrest, and surely won't be the last. But the irony is, the strategy doesn't work very well. As I wrote last year when the president of Sudan abruptly cut the country off from the World Wide Web, it tends to make mobs even more angry, hurt the economy, and demonstrators will always find a way to circumvent the censorship anyway.

In Venezuela’s case, the media crackdown is arguably bringing even more international attention to the unrest. As Foreign Policy pointed out today, trying to block information is a terrible PR tact. It has a tendency to attract the attention of foreign press that might otherwise ignore the protests, and provoke sympathy for the opposition. There's a case to make that the more Maduro tries to hide what's going on, the more the world will conclude that there's something to hide.

Damn.

[Norseman]

Damn.

How dare they! Now they will really be in trouble as elite American volunteers flood their borders!



But seriously this is really bad news, I don't think any country has just up and shut down the internet before. Of course with satelite uplinks and such (which are easily available, even 15 years ago my old school had broadband satelite internet) this won't really accomplish their end of blocking all information.

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said the number of deaths which can be connected to two weeks of anti-government protests has risen above 50.

Official estimates put the number killed in clashes at 13. Mr Maduro has blamed the violence on fascist groups.

He was speaking ahead of a meeting intended to put an end to the unrest, sparked by anger at high inflation, rampant crime and food shortages.

But the main opposition coalition has refused to attend, calling it a farce.

"We will not lend ourselves to a sham dialogue that would end in a mockery of our compatriots," the opposition MUD said in a letter to Vice President Jorge Arreaza.

On Monday, Venezuela's Attorney General Luisa Ortega said 13 people had died in protest-related violence. At the time, opposition groups said the number of dead was at least 15.

Speaking at a pro-government rally staged by farmers outside the presidential palace, Mr Maduro said there were "more than 50 dead as a result of road blocks and barricades".

"Yesterday, an 84-year-old lady died in eastern Caracas because she was held up at a road block for three hours and died in her family's car of a heart attack," he said.

He did not further clarify his reasons for giving a steep increase in the death toll.

Elsewhere in Caracas, hundreds of people, mostly women, led by the wife of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez protested against the government's handling of the demonstrations.

'Photo opportunity'
The "national peace conference" was called by President Maduro a few days ago, after another violent weekend.

The Roman Catholic church and a major business federation had confirmed their presence.

The protests have continued, although their numbers seem to be declining.

The leader of the opposition, Henrique Capriles, dismissed the talks initiative as a "photo opportunity" for Mr Maduro.

"Who does dialogue suit more? Nicolas [Maduro], I think. This is a government that is becoming extinct, eating itself up," Mr Capriles told Reuters news agency.

On Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he was "saddened by the violence" and called for the "protection of human rights" in Venezuela.

Pope Francis also said he hoped that "violence and hostility would cease as soon as possible".

He called on the Venezuelan people "to promote reconciliation through mutual forgiveness and sincere dialogue".

[frigidmagi]

CBC

On Monday, Venezuelans woke up to find barricades of pipes, trash and branches burning in the streets.

Improvised roadblocks, cutting off neighbourhoods from each other and from the central core of certain cities, appeared simultaneously in eight states of Venezuela, most of them in middle-class areas, and show no signs of letting up.

Even the start of a week-long national holiday on Thursday, to culminate in the March 5 anniversary of former president Hugo Chavez's death from cancer, has not stopped the demonstrations — or the government's tear-gas response.

Carnival won't stop demonstrations, protestors say
What began almost a month ago as a student protest over a sexual assault in the western state of Táchira has now spread throughout the country and into the wealthier communities where people are fed up with rampant crime, a shortage of things like toilet paper and inflation running at over 50 per cent.

Maria Lopez, a 37-year-old accountant, explained the reasons why she joined the students. "I'm tired of queuing to buy, I'm tired of kidnappings and the violence that continues each day."

Nancy Garcia, a college professor, said that her two children came out to protest, and after seeing what happened to other young students she decided to join as well.

The month-long clashes between, initially, the student demonstrators and the security forces of President Nicolas Maduro have left, as of Friday,17 people dead directly from the violence and over 260 injured, the government said.

But to get the full idea of how ubiquitous these protests have become, look at Altamira, a small but wealthy enclave in the capital Caracas that has become a hotbed of opposition activism.

Just a few steps separates the Canadian Embassy in Caracas from Altamira Square, the place that, for almost three consecutive weeks, has been a centre of protest, tear gas and demands by students and middle-class professionals alike.

On the wall of the embassy is a hand-painted "No to dictatorship" that stands like a silent witness to the struggles of the day.

Neighbour against neighbour

In Caracas, the road blocks have left some neighbourhoods entirely cut off from the rest of the city, and they have divided the country as well – neighbour against neighbour in some instances.

Those taking over the streets say they are doing this because they have nowhere else to raise their grievances. But the tactic is not sitting well with everyone.

"It's not fair the closing of the streets," says Ligia Alvarez, 62. "I agree with the demonstrations. But what is the point if we are hostages in our own homes."

The fact that these demonstrations are mostly taking place in wealthier neighbourhoods is also pitting rich against poor to some extent.

"There is a little group, a little rich group, but they are not the majority," says Omar Gutierrez a resident of Petare, one of Caracas's toughest slums. "We want peace and quiet and move forward with this government that has brought us prosperity."

The wealth gap in this country is the dividing line that brought the late Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution to power 15 years ago.

It is a revolution his chosen successor, Maduro, is hoping to continue. But he won a six-year term last April with only 50.6 per cent of the vote, just beating out Governor Henrique Capriles at 49.1 per cent, and it seems clear that the election battles are nowhere near being resolved.

President Maduro has denounced the protests, the worst since he took power 11 months ago, as "a fascist coup d'etat," and has been blaming his traditional enemies, Washington and former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, for stirring things up.

For his part, Uribe has called the government crackdown as bad as what is taking place in Syria.

Shuttering the media

The government is also cracking down on the media.

National television is not showing many of the disturbances. And the signal from international news network NTN24, based in Colombia, was shut off national subscription television by direct order of Maduro himself.

He has also taken legal action to boot CNN, one of the few North American outlets in Venezuela, out the country and restrict its reporting.

Two weeks ago, following some of the worst of the initial violence, Twitter reported that the government was blocking some of the images being tweeted by its users.

The government denied the accusation. Twitter penetration in Venezuela is the fourth-highest in the world.

According to the human rights group Foro Penal Venezolano, 732 people have been arrested across the country and 33 tortured.

The government denies any torture, but the accusations from both sides are mounting.

Last week, the international group Human Rights Watch said, "Venezuelan security forces have used excessive and unlawful force against protesters on multiple occasions since February 12, including beating detainees and shooting at crowds of unarmed people."

Following the first protests on Feb. 5, there were accusations that pro-government, pro-Chavista groups called colectivos, basically armed militia on motorcycles who had played a role in bringing Chavez to power, attacked civilians and broke into private residences.

In the spike in violence surrounding the massive Feb. 12 march in Caracas, a well-known colectivo leader was shot and killed during a counter-demonstration, and the group was blamed for starting the violence in which two people were killed.

While the situation in the Ukraine has pretty much stolen the world's attention, events in Venezuela continue apace.

[Lys]

While the situation in the Ukraine has pretty much stolen the world's attention, events in Venezuela continue apace.

I'm a Venezuelan expatriate and frankly the Ukraine also has my attention. After 15 years of watching that place circle the drain I just can't care about Venezuela any more. There's so much wasted potential, so much money made from record high oil prices that was just stolen, misspent, thrown away, or wasted. Everything's just gone completely to fucking shit. By this point the entire population could be taken by plague and the country resettled by Nigerians and I'd consider it an improvement.

[frigidmagi]

bloomberg

Robert Mendoza drags a tree trunk to the barricade at the entrance of his neighborhood in San Cristobal as the birthplace of Venezuela’s month-long protest movement braces for an all-out assault by the National Guard.

“We’ve got to be prepared. Next time they are really coming for us,” Mendoza, a 17-year-old student, said in front of the wall of metal sheets, old washing machines and garbage bags. “We have to carry on this fight until the government resigns.”

The city of 700,000 in the foothills of the Andes mountains has maintained the pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro even as the protest movement wanes in the nation’s capital, Caracas. The arrest of San Cristobal’s mayor on March 19 led protesters to reinforce their barricades in response to concerns the president plans to push ahead with his pledge to “pacify” the whole country.

“The government is scared that the protests led by students and some political parties will expand into poorer sectors and the trade unions, destabilizing the government,” said Diego Moya-Ocampos, a London-based political risk analyst at IHS Global Insight consultancy. “That is why Maduro’s government has militarized San Cristobal and Caracas.”

Security forces won’t find it easy to retake the town. Three-inch-long metal spikes hammered into asphalt mark the start of the first line of defense in northern neighborhoods such as Pueblo Nuevo, Carabobo and Libertador. Another 150 meters further back is a second barricade, with spotters on the roofs warning of police attacks.

Rebel Headquarters

Trained paramedics rush the injured to the field hospital at the rebel headquarters on Carabobo Avenue, while women prepare communal lunches for the fighters in nearby houses. Pictures of three protesters who lost their lives in the past six weeks of skirmishes adorn a makeshift chapel by the hospital tent.

“Everyone supports each other here,” Christopher Vivas, an emergency relief student at the Tachira Experimental University said March 17 while having his head stitched up for the second time in two weeks. “We build the barricades and fight the police. The community gives us food, medicine, and a place to rest.”

Protesters last night burned down a regional environment ministry building in San Cristobal and damaged a nearby gasoline station.

Death Toll

Protests erupted in San Cristobal, capital of Tachira state, on Feb. 4, when students demonstrated against the lack of security at Andes University, according to Gaby Arellano, the school’s student union leader. The protests have since spread across the country, fueled by the world’s highest inflation, shortages of basic goods and rising crime.

Clashes have left at least 31 people dead, according to Public Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, including six members of the security forces.

The San Cristobal protests have spread to the agricultural towns in the surrounding area, where smuggling of subsidized goods into Colombia has aggravated shortages. The National Guard sent reinforcements of armored vehicles and motorbikes on March 19 to Rubio, a coffee-growing town of 70,000 that is 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) from the Colombian border, after residents barricaded city entrances and pelted the local guard barracks with stones.

Pimpinero and Bachaquero

Price controls make basic products in Venezuela up to 10 times cheaper than in Colombia, feeding a contraband industry that leaves supermarket shelves bare. Nationwide, more than one in four basic products are out of stock at any given time, according to the central bank, with shortages most severe in western states close to the border.

“The only three jobs here are: motorbike taxi driver, pimpinero and bachaquero,” said Eric Sanchez, a protester from Rubio’s community college, referring to gasoline and food smugglers.

Protests started because of a “lack of opportunities” and continue out of a desire to overthrow the government, he said while hiding from the National Guard in a house of a retired school teacher.

As violence escalates, rocks and tear gas are being replaced by guns, said Jeickson, a protester who refused to give his last name because he was afraid of retaliation from the government.

Bullets Flying

“Bullets are flying from both sides, the fear is now real,” Jeickson said, while standing outside a barricade rebuilt last night after the National Guard attack in San Cristobal’s Pueblo Nuevo.

Rising casualties are making it harder for the security forces to respond calmly, said Lieutenant Colonel Jose Torrealba, head of the National Guard’s urban forces in Tachira.

“Deaths of their comrades are making troops angry,” he said outside of San Cristobal’s Armed Forces University on March 18, as soldiers in riot gear supported by Chinese-made armored vehicles tried to breach a protester barricade defended by a hail of Molotov cocktails. “Our response is measured and limited and our goal is to protect state property and uphold the rights of citizens who want to carry on with their normal lives.”

A soldier who suffered a bullet wound in the skirmish outside the university in San Cristobal on March 18 died the next day, according to the Interior Ministry. The government responded by arresting the city’s opposition mayor, Daniel Ceballos, on accusations of fomenting rebellion.

In an attempt to defuse the protests, the government is resupplying local shops.

Food Supply

Toilet paper, corn flour and cooking oil were readily available in rationed quantities in San Cristobal’s supermarkets this week. Those who wanted milk and sugar had to sleep outside state supermarkets to get a ticket for one of 220 daily passes to the Bicentenario chain.

Maduro said last month that lines and shortages in Tachira have been caused by the barricades, which prevent food trucks from reaching the shops.

None of these products were in the shops earlier this year, according to local residents.

While resupplying stores will help calm the protests for now, deeper economic reforms are needed to reduce the problem of shortages and inflation behind the social discontent, Moya-Ocampos said.

Exchange System

“Protests are calming, but won’t disappear,” he said by telephone March 20. “A new wave of protests will come. The government knows it doesn’t control the situation on the streets.”

To increase the supply of dollars to importers and reduce shortages, the government will begin a new foreign currency market on Mar. 24 that will allow companies and individuals to trade greenbacks for a price determined by supply and demand and approved by the central bank, economy Vice President Rafael Ramirez said yesterday.

Mendoza says the repression of what were initially peaceful protests has made Maduro’s attempt to change the economic system redundant.

“If we keep living with fear nothing will ever change,” the student said at his barricades in the El Lobo district of San Cristobal. “We prefer to die in an army attack than for an iPhone in an armed robbery outside our homes.”