Politics

The Opposition is Violently Repressed Everywhere Except Caracas

Away from the big march in Caracas today, a day of violence throughout Venezuela as armed chavista civilian groups collude with the forces of order to intimidate and attack opposition marchers.

Carlos Hernández

“We reached an agreement to create a joint committee to guarantee that all political rallies in the coming days can take place in a climate of peace.” 

That was opposition spokesman Chúo Torrealba during his now infamous Vatican dialogue announcement, a mere 48 hours ago. Apparently this joint committee’s scope was limited to Caracas, though: today, the rest of the country has seen a spasm of political violence like we hadn’t seen since 2014.

News are coming at us thick and fast. So far, this is what we have on “el interior”:

Táchira

From early on the tempers flared at this notorious hotbed of gocho resistance. The protests in San Cristobal produced what has become, at this point, the iconic image of October 26th:

“Shoot me because I’m hungry, ” the protester screams, getting right up in the riot cop’s face. That’s one intense video.

Violence started a little later, when the Tupamaros (progovernment armed gangs) went out to repress the protesters with the help of the police. Things escalated; more than 30 wounded are confirmed so far.

A highly worrying trend has to do with the way armed colectivos — essentially leftist pro-government paramilitaries — have been coordinating closely with uniformed police and National Guard to repress protests.

Don’t believe me? Watch this:

Táchira governor Vielma Mora didn’t waste any time reminding us why he’s become such a hate figure for so many.

https://twitter.com/VielmaEsTachira/status/791328776324022272

Mérida

We’ll have a detailed report on Mérida later. For now, a clash between the police and the students resulted in a burned car and as many as 50 protesters wounded so far.

Poor lady, she probably believed Chúo when he said that the protest would go on peacefully.

Maracaibo

Things seem to have gotten especially ugly in Maracaibo, where the violence was perpetrated with live ammo.

There isn’t much information about Maracaibo, but it looks like itst he same modus-operandi as in the other states. The pro-government armed civilians, no, that’s too fancy, the “malandros chavistas” were repressing the protests with guns. 5 wounded so far.

Cumaná

In the oriental capital, 21 were reported detained, the highest so far. El Pitazo has a thorough writeup about Cumaná.

Again, notice the obvious collusion between riot cops and armed chavista groups.

Carabobo

Masked protesters (encapuchados) cut off traffic in the key Central Regional Highway, the one linking Barquisimeto to Valencia and Caracas — using the by now almost folkloric technique of burning-tire barricades.

http://elpitazo.com/regiones/encapuchados-protestan-autopista-naguanana /

Guárico

Five protesters detained. Not a lot of detail is available yet.

Margarita

In Margarita the protesters went directly to that new, super-tacky Chávez statue. The Statue was heavily guarded by national guard officers — these guys have their priorities clear. Protesters weren’t able to bring down the statue today — realistically, though, it’s a question of when, not if.

Barinas

In Barinas, the plastic buckshot — perdigones — were being shot at people’s faces, from short range. That’s precisely how Geraldine Moreno was killed in 2014, if you’ll remember.

That’s just what we’re able to find in a quick scan of the news sites. Overall, there seems to have been some level of violence and repression everywhere the opposition came out, except Caracas.

Carlos Hernández

Ciudad Guayana economist moonlighting as the keyboardist of a progressive power metal band. Carlos knows how to play Truco. 4 8 15 16 23 42

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