Source: El Universal
Chavistas love to repeat the tired old canard that the protest movements are “contained,” and “limited” to well-to do areas of Caracas. Just yesterday, the President was boasting in the New York Times that the protests “have received no support in poor and working-class neighborhoods.”
What they deliberately fail to mention is the tiny fact that opposition protests in western Caracas have been banned by the chavista mayor of that part of the city.
Naky Soto writes about this in her blog. Yesterday, a march was called. It was scheduled to start at the UCV campus (which lies in the western part of town) and from there they intended to take to the streets.
What followed was an orgy of violence that included civilian paratroopers, hundreds of tear-gas canisters, several wounded, and the sexual assault of a student. The march – or what was left of it – never left campus. Look? See? No protests where the real people live!
Naky’s narration is well worth a read, but the money quote in her post comes from the caption to the picture she used:
“The tear-gas canister is a perfect analogy to what Maduro is: thrown by another, leaves everyone out of breath, useless after a short while, an empty shell when it is done speaking.”
Caracas Chronicles 
Type these two words in google and see if you can notice any similarities: “Lviv Pogrom”.
LikeLike
Marc, thanks for your references. Pictures are shockingly similar ( and yet,thaks God, still some distance away)
Public humiliation tactics,s similar, lots of passive bystanders, similar, groups of fascist attacking the ghetto resistance, similar.
Not yet similar , chavismo uses paramilitaries still and has yet to pass the point where it no longer cares about any appearances and has uniformed forces doing the dirty work.
is this a good thing or a bad thing? good question.
As in many things DICTADURA2.0 practises are more refined, keeping appearances is key.
Pictures are powerful so being seen and having footage with camisas pardas beating up naked victims is hard to neutralize media wise. collectives in unmarked bikes, is easier to spin.
SAME AS ELECTIONS
the fraud is always subtle never blatant. Still fraud.
i hope our society realizes and makes the mental connection, Same people, same incentive : keeping power by any means, finances by OUR money, with a clear intent to subdue US!!!!!
Now, do we want to wait until recall referendum window and or, next round of CNE administered elections?
Pleaseeeee
LikeLike
I think we need to have a well-organised international campaign to show how this is not “better-off” only.
One of the problems is that most foreign journos in Venezuela -with a couple of exceptions – are guys who only roam from Chacao to 23 de Enero.
As you said, Chavista mayors have prohibited marches in any but better-off areas which they do not control.
Also: any protest in areas where we do not have more than 75% of the population but “just”
50% to 74% of it is bound to be much more dangerous.
I can easily show that by marking the places in Greater Valencia where protests have occurred.
Oppos have been murdered and wounded en masse in such areas as La Isabelica and Valencia’s centre (clearly opp but DEFINITELY poor areas)
The same happened in Caracas with Candelaria and the like.
LikeLike
Well article, but the UCV is located in the southern part of Caracas, not the west.
LikeLike
It’s in Libertador. In that regard, it’s in “western” Caracas.
LikeLike
Actually, it’s more complex than that, there is la Lagunita and there is Catia and there is a whole spectrum of neighborhoods in Caracas that’s very different from the Este/Oeste narrative that plays in the media.
LikeLike
“El Universal, 4/3/2014, Cuerpo 3, P.1”, for the third time Tupamaros motorizados with guns in hand in Catia, Urbanizacion Simon Bolivar, rampaged through the streets, “…con megafonos en manos, advirtiendo a quienes se asomaban desde sus ventanas que estaban “”preparados para la guerra” si alguna persona se atrevia a tomar las calles de la zona para manifestar su descontento con el Gobierno”….
LikeLike
They are kind of desperate, aren’t they? Good to know.
LikeLike
The mere fact that they feel it necessary to issue a public warning agains anti govt protests by barrio dwellers is proof that there is a lot of discontent there , otherwise why go to the trouble of issuing a warning !!
LikeLike
OT: Small ‘p’ politics strikes again. This is one of those times I confirm that I’m in the opposition despite its leadership, everything is just an opportunity to increase their power quotas.
“‘En la bancada parlamentaria de la Unidad aún no se ponen de acuerdo sobre quiénes de sus diputados conformarán los comités de postulaciones judicial y electoral para renovar a 11 magistrados del TSJ y 3 rectores del CNE
[…]
Desde el miércoles los opositores están reunidos para nombrar a estos parlamentarios. Otra fuente allegada a la Unidad confesó a ÚN que la falta de designados se debe a que los partidos más grandes de la MUD exigen que la escogencia sea proporcional al tamaño de sus fuerzas políticas.
[…]
Sin embargo, el diputado Luis Barragán, aseveró a ÚN que a los diputados de la Movida Parlamentaria no los convocaron para estas reuniones de la Mesa de la Unidad.'”
http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/oposicion-en-mora-con-los-comites-judicial-y-elect.aspx
“MUD congresspeople haven’t agreed who will join, from their ranks, the committees charged with application process for the judicial and election authorities to renew 11 TSJ justices and 3 CNE rectors.
[…]
Since Wednesday, there have been meetings to decide these members. Another source, close to MUD, confided to UN that the delay was caused by larger parties demanding that the selection should be proportional to their parliamentary representation.
[…]
Nonetheless, congressman Luis Barragán, stated that no member of the Movida Parlamentaria block was summoned to any of these MUD meetings.”
LikeLike
Because cambur….
LikeLike
Maybe this psychiatrist mayor, after he has been prosecuted and held accountable for these abuses, can provide the world with insights into how a self-described anti-fascist and victim of repression becomes so completely the thing that he hates.
Soto is absolutely right. This regime’s creation of a “Consejo” on human rights, headed up by a band of perpetrators, is a bad joke.
LikeLike
Sadly excellent.
LikeLike
I decided to translate (to the best of my ability) Naky’s post for non-Spanish speakers:
Fascist Zone
On 17 February, Jorge Rodríguez, mayor of the Libertador municipality, announced [the enforcement of] decree 281 [in order] to make his jurisdiction a zone free from fascism, whose meaning is associated with any form of exercise [related to] the opposition, arbitrarily legalizing political discrimination [that is] prohibited in our laws. Article 68 of the CRBV guarantees the right to peaceful protest. The [right to] protest does not require permission, only a notification; but the mayor, taking advantage of his party’s dominance of the State, has imposed his discriminatory will with the backing of security forces and paramilitary groups that he greatly praises. In Libertador, [with] minor irony, the right to protest is suspended [in accordance to] the criterion of a fanatical official who exercises power that curtails constitutional rights.
Misión represión
The students notified [the authorities] that they will be marching this April 3rd. Before beginning their march, two lines were formed by the PNB by a bridge that would impede their passage. Even though they showed their notification, explained their motives and demanded their rights, they received – in response – a barrage of tear gas, which have ceased to be instruments of public order [and have been designated] to be the main element of repression, even though the protesters have not exercised any violence. To be an opposition member is a [form of] aggression. To demand one’s rights is an aggression. To march peacefully and collectively through your city is also [an aggression].
Reading the messages of those who were at the UCV was desperate. They were unable to generate their march, but inside were armed civilians that delivered beatings, threats, insults and even tormented a student, stripping him [of his clothes]. Again, 15 years of polarization, of dehumanization of the other, has worked, that is why cruel treatment does not occur against an ally but against the enemy, who is now called a terrorist with the same ease that fascists and apátridas were spoken of previously. The government promotes violence, thus closing the door of a unique possible scenario: an admission to the consequences caused by its mismanagement and the possibility of advancing dialogue.
To add to the balance of disaster at the UCV tally two police officers, one journalist and at least seven students wounded; 4 photographers robbed and one correspondent threatened. Another act of paramilitary repression towards protesters, absolutely unpunished, and the obstruction of a peaceful march, is the narration through official channels [of this as] an achievement, misrepresenting the purpose of the march. To protest is a right, repression is not. To criminalize protests while applauding repression as an act of heroism is another stimulus to anger.
Human Rights Council
The foreign ministers of Unasur were emphatic about their concern for the human rights of Venezuelans. [But] obviously, the capacity to process and the political bias of the Prosecutor and the Ombudsman have not been able – nor can they be able – to respond to the numerous violations committed in these weeks of protests. But since the State must demonstrate diligence, and Nicolás is a hit to increase bureaucracy, he created by decree and without the participation of victims, a State Council for Human Rights.
He did it with a shameful exposition, where he repeated the same storyline that the murders occurred within the framework of the protests: the problem is not the murderers and the impunity [associated] with their crimes, but the barricades that make citizens vulnerable to the line of fire; like [for example] what happened to Adriana Urquiola against Yonny Bolívar, a former convict, but also a public employee carrying weapons. Here, there is minimal acknowledgment of a violation of a human right of any kind, buuut, the terrorists are a lot worse, indeed, a whole lot of good resulted to those who deserve it for what they have done and represented. There they justify discrimination and Jorge Rodríguez’s abuse of power, in what could have happened if he would have allowed them to march. If they have able to declare [who is] guilty without an investigation or trial, in jailing authorities without following due process, those who impede your constitutional right and repress you by pretending to exercise it as an act of generosity, from the perspective of Nicolás.
In any case, the panel will be chaired by VP Arreaza and shall be constituted by the same agencies that have justified or permitted human rights violations: the Ombudsman’s Office, the Prosecutor General and the TSJ, also two deputies – who shall be appointed by the AN – and 3 representatives from human rights NGOs, whose names were not mentioned, nor [was it] explained who will elect them.
…
If anger and revenge were to produce energy, our petroleum reserves would be shit compared to what we have accumulated [during] this devastating mix. We must consider strategies to overcome them. Crime has now systematically undermined our sense of astonishment, that state violence will not end our commitment to civility. Hatred is sanctioning unjustifiable actions. Violence only favors power, that is why the government is encouraging indignation, anger and prejudice [in order] to distance oneself from those who want to defend dialogue as a mechanism. And that is the only way.
LikeLike
Basta de violencia desde el Estado que se enmascara negando las mínimas garantías individuales.
LikeLike
Excellent article. 1 small comment: Paratroopers are people with parachutes, so I think you mean paramilitary.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Queremos Seguridad, sea roja, blanca, negra, amarilla, azul esperanza estaría buena!
http://www.delecturas.com/2013/03/la-calle-es-libre.html
LikeLike