Ever since last Wednesday’s student March which left two dead, the Government has tried to say that former Presidential candidate Leopoldo Lopez and Congresswoman Maria Corina Machado, who led the protest, were responsible for the the deaths right after the demonstration ended. But, usually pro-Government paper Ultimas Noticias, has done an extraordinary investigation of videos and pictures and what it has found is a carefully orchestrated withdrawal of the police, which were replaced by Intelligence police officers and plainclothesmen, who were wearing and used guns against running students.Having guns near a demonstration is illegal, Government officers murdering people at a demonstration is a crime against humanity by them and their superiors.
What this investigation shows is the power of the smartphone, as the evidence came mostly from amateur tapings (note that one of them, the person making the video is hiding under a car)
Here is the text and the video
and here is a summary of the text for those that do not speak Spanish. I recommend watching the video (at the end) after reading the text:
“It was at 3:13 PM when Bassil Alejandro Dacosta fell. The line of fire was in the hands of individuals identified with unirforms, plates and vehicles of the Bolivarain Intelligence Service (Sebin) accompanied by others dressed as civilians. They had taken over between the Tracabordo and the Ferrenquin corners of La Candelaria, after the Bolivarain National Police withdrew its troops
Here is the reconstruction: A group of students tries to go up from Monroy to Tracabordo. The march was over. Those left were screaming at police. They advanced towards a Sebin motorcycle, knocking it to the ground. The Sebin and civilians move forward and start shooting pistols rifles. The students withdraw. Others, among which was Bassil Dacosta, cross to a lateral street. It is not clear why they decide to trun around 12 seconds later, they cross the line of fire. Dacosta falls. At no point does the shooting stop.
Dacosta is the next to last of a line of students that crosses trying to escape the bullets. His buddies pick him up and carry him away”
Witneeses say the corner ahd been taken over by men and women in motorcycles, like “those you see in TV”. All dressed as civilains. Some with helmets and t-shirts. Some with their faces covered. They were shooting at the protesters in the Monroy corner. “They would shoot with their arms out and then hide”. In the wall of a City office there are at least 10 tarces of bullet impacts.
The civilians talked to the Sebin officers and withdrew. Sebin officers occupied their places.
At the head of the group came a Kawasaki Versys 1000 motorcycle with another large guy with kaki shirt and jeans with a short wave radio in his hand. He seems to be the leader. After Dacosta falls, he gestures towards a man in gray camouflage clothes.
At the instant of Dacosta’s death a photographic sequence shows at least seven men wielding their weapons. Five are shooting standing up, one is shooting in the air and four are shooting at the protesters. Two wear uniforms.
One of them wears a white shirt, green military pants, helmet and blck lenses, He moves in a motorcycle with official palate 2-177. The other wears a long sleeved black shirt, jeans and black shows. No helmet or glasses. The civialisn were acting in coordination with those in uniform.
One of the shooters picks up the motorcycle overthrown by the students. Two pick up the shells from the bullets, they get on their motorcycles and leave.
Questions: Maduro said those responsible had been identified, a day later the scientific police was still studying the scene?
Why did the National withdraw from the scene?
Why were weapons used to repress the protest?
Why were there civilians with uniformed Sebin officers repressing the march?
From the video: Why did the motorcycles easily cross between the students and the police?
Why did the guy jump over the police only to be seen shooting later?”
Here is the video:
Here are a few pictures of the guy in white from three different angles, one of them while shooting:
Meanwhile the investigative police last night went to Leopoldo Lopez’ parents’ home and his home reportedly to arrest him, in part for being responsible for the death of Dacosta. . He was not there. Maduro called him a coward for not turning himself in.
Tonight Lopez distributes this video, upping the ante in these protests calling for a march to the Prosecutors office to demand a number of things and to turn himself in for crimes he has not committed. He is asking everyone to wear white, as a sign that this is a peaceful movement.
For the Government this represents a quandary. Jailing Lopez will only ignite things even more, but it was Maduro who accused him of crimes, nobody knows specifically which ones. Will the Prosecutor obey Maduro and jail Lopez? Will a Judge sign the order to capture him?
Can the Prosecutor accuse Lopez while Ultimas Noticias has shown clear evidence that it was police and civilians in official motorcyles who were shooting at that instant at the students. Will they go after those responsible for Dacostas’s death?
It is certainly an interesting week to be here.
Note added at 9:21 PM Sunday Feb. 16th. : This work is having an effect, President Maduro said tonight on nationwide TV that he had order all Sebin officers to stay at their barracks!!!
The Devil's Excrement 
February 19, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Anyone arriving at this post via Facebook, can you please tell me how come so many people are visitng the blog from Facebook. On Monday it was like six times my usual readership only from that link.
February 19, 2014 at 9:37 am
“Si mi querencia es el monte, y mi fuerza el
cimarrón, como no quieres que cante, como
no quieres que cante, como canta un corazón ” tio simon
Lopez is intelligent, and speaks from the heart.
February 18, 2014 at 11:46 am
and yet people get up at 4:30 am to go to work,
and still get killed.
Miguel Ángel Cartaya Borges (39), ex funcionario de la Policía Nacional, y actualmente empleado del departamento de Seguridad de la Embajada de Estados Unidos, fue ultimado en El Junquito.
La víctima, a las 4:30 am de este martes, salió de su vivienda, en la calle El Turpial de la urbanización Araguaney con destino a su trabajo.
Leer más en: http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/sucesos/mataron-a-funcionario-de-seguridad-de-la-embajada-.aspx#ixzz2th1H9MgI
February 18, 2014 at 4:48 pm
http://t.co/WSL8HSJX9S
is this for real?
February 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm
Important:
From Dictatorship to Democracy, http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf
De la Dictadura a la Democracia, http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/DelaDict.pdf
(Gene Sharp, 1993, .pdf)
February 17, 2014 at 4:46 pm
In Margarita today, a major intersection was shut down for at least half of the day by the protests. Interestingly, there was no police presence until very late in the day, and they stayed at least a block from the protesters and were mainly rerouting traffic. The protests are having an impact on the economy as many businesses are closed, and the transport of goods is blocked.
In speaking to the protesters, their aims are unclear. They are (to quote a famous film) “…mad as hell and aren’t going to take it any longer.” Which is understandable, but the protests seem uncoordinated, leaderless, and don’t seem to really accomplish anything.
What does this mean? Damned if I know.
February 17, 2014 at 9:43 pm
it means it comes from the heart, and are quite authentic
February 18, 2014 at 11:42 am
I think it means
the police estan en huelga de brazos caidos.
February 17, 2014 at 4:30 pm
The Maduro regime is fast approaching the tipping point in which the basic needs of the people can no longer be met owing to shocking incompetance and a total lack of wherewital. What happens with the thugs on tghe motorcycles cannot get breat, water, power, medicine, and their Boliveres will no longer spend. We’re nearly there. The hope is that the call for peaceful resistance is heeded, though I fear the Maduro camp will stop at nothing to hold power. One thing is for sure: The crisis is not going to go away.
Juanito
February 17, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Will the Prosecutor obey Maduro and jail Lopez? – surely this is a rhetorical question.
Will a Judge sign the order to capture him? – does the sun come up in the east?
Will they go after those responsible for Dacostas’s death? – surely you jest?
February 17, 2014 at 4:06 pm
LOL 🙂
February 17, 2014 at 1:41 pm
What to make of the report by Ultimas Noticias? Does it reflect split within Chavismo or just that sometimes people will refuse to lie to follow the official line?
February 17, 2014 at 10:24 am
OT
anyone? selling SIGNED copies of
ORQUIDEAS De VENEZUELA.
[ Orchids Of Venezuela ]
Dunsterville G C K
Published by Caracas,
Obsequiado por
La Compania Shell De Venezuela, 1960
Hard Cover, Grey , several volumes.
February 17, 2014 at 9:36 am
Reblogged this on danmillerinpanama and commented:
“usually pro-Government paper Ultimas Noticias, has done an extraordinary investigation of videos and pictures . . . .” suggesting that fault lies with the Venezuelan government. What governmental response might await Ultimas Noticias ?
February 17, 2014 at 9:12 am
According to Maduro, three US representatives caused this shooting and they are being expelled. We wonder what would happen if they took all the US dollars with the. S
February 17, 2014 at 11:32 am
That’s a lie:
All U.S. representatives were busy giving Maduro genital herpes via our new H1 Herpes laser gun, and they had no time at all to plan these student demonstrations.
First things first.
February 17, 2014 at 7:33 am
now dig this…
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2014/02/16/con-un-fusil-soldados-violan-a-estudiante-en-carabobo/
February 17, 2014 at 6:38 am
`The reaction of Venezuelans to the arrival of more Cubans at the airport on Feb. 15″
I can only assume that they are additional security forces.
For those who don’t know Spanish everyone is yelling “fuera, fuera””get out, get out”
February 17, 2014 at 6:52 am
I hope they also shout stuff like “Abajo Castro, abajo Castro”. It would be more difficult for Cuban agents – or else- then to laugh with that and pretend they also support that.
Canuck, pass the message: “Abajo Castro, abajo Castro” or “Fuera G2, fuera G2”
February 17, 2014 at 6:52 am
This video is old when they arrived as trainers and doctors I remeber well the shouting and the Che shirts.
February 17, 2014 at 5:15 am
Miguel,
I would say Últimas Noticias has had a more neutral tone in the last couple of years. It’s a mix. You see things that are rather repetition of Chavista propaganda, but also very critical reports. Francisco Toro has pointed at this on several occasions as well.
And as far as reports go, Últimas Noticias seems to do more investigations than El Nacional, as far as I have seen. Their editing is terrible, but that’s the case for virtually every newspaper I know of in Venezuela.
February 17, 2014 at 1:31 am
This is a dirty war. The opposition needs to understand that marches and signs and calls for elections are going to be met with bullets and repression. This is the reality.
February 17, 2014 at 9:26 am
What are they then to do? Stand down? Do nothing? Do what’s already been tried over and over and over again for a minimum of a decade?
Maduro is a coward and a puppet to Cuba. He knows less than zero. Where he comes from you always accuse another..Do not take blame for anything. – As horrible as it is, and it is and has been for far too long, it’s
time the people stood their ground. There are always human losses, but,
perhaps, just perhaps, this being the first reallllly serious out pouring,
just maybe..this will create a positive movement, and hopefully, ultimately,
the end of Maduro & Government. Without HOPE, there’s nothing.
HOPE & PEACE!!
February 16, 2014 at 9:38 pm
Disgusting. No turning back now! This fake revolution shows what it is all about, to the world.
February 16, 2014 at 10:05 pm
I’m not interested in letting the world know. Does the people of Venezuela know? Does the people in the rural areas,the little towns, the poor parts of the cities know?
The students are fighting a very tough and uneven war. When will the media react? will there be a general strike? will the army ever refuse to carry out cuban orders?
Without the support from the rest of the country it’s gonna be a tough one
February 16, 2014 at 9:37 pm
I hope the word about the 18th gets out. My father in law lives in cua and he said they haven’t had power since last night. He had no clue what’d going on. I guess if they can’t totally shut down twitter they can shut down the power. Then again, power outages are fairly common so who knows.
February 16, 2014 at 9:11 pm
hoy 9:48 am
Dudamel ofreció concierto para celebrar el 39º
aniversario de la Ossbv: Jaua asistió al acto
At each of the five extermination camps,
the Nazis created orchestras of prisoner-musicians,
forcing them to play while their fellow prisoners
marched to the gas chambers.
Dudamel, Abreu just created
one for the CARACAS
MADURO CAMP .
February 16, 2014 at 9:19 pm
…. Will the Prosecutor obey Maduro and jail Lopez?
Will a Judge sign the order to capture him?
Confused?
Don’t be,
Will F.BS. reach the eighties?
…….[scratch that – hundreds are more like it]
… Will abastos discover troves of price-fixed consumables?
… Will we wipe our asses with luxurious toilet paper?
…Will Tear Gas be our Eau de Cologne fragrance of the day?
These questions—and many others—
will be answered in the next neverending
drumroll from the Devil’s Excrements
STRANGER than fiction BLOG!
February 16, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Godwin’s law (also known as Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies) is an assertion made by American attorney and author Mike Godwin in 1990 that has become an Internet adage. It states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
Only the 3rd comment and we’re already there.
February 16, 2014 at 11:15 pm
HAH!
But the comparisons are still often valid.
February 17, 2014 at 3:49 am
I wonder why there are no analogies with Stalin’s communists. Perhaps because of the other rule that says that socialists can’t do anything wrong, and if they do it is for the good of the people. The Nazis had nothing to do with Venezuela, but Cuba’s communists do.
February 17, 2014 at 4:24 am
Half the world doesn’t even know Stalin (or Mao) was a mass murderer, but I don’t think it’s because of left bias:
The documentation simply didn’t exist to “promote” those strategies in the same way. And they left those affected survivors zero ways to provide testament to what actually happened.
February 17, 2014 at 6:51 am
“Tragedies,” not “strategies.”
February 16, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Miguel,
I don’t know if the video you’ve posted above is this same video, I can’t view it, it tells me “an error has occurred”.
Here’s another view of one of the murders:
February 16, 2014 at 9:11 pm
This one is part of the other one, try again, it inserted it badly for some reason, should be fine now
February 16, 2014 at 9:18 pm
It’s fine now.