After the Government showed some restraint all day yesterday in Caracas, mobilizing National Guard troops but not having them act, despite the widespread blocking of the highways and major street in Caracas, things changed last night.
First, in Valencia and San Cristobal, repression increased, tear gas was used and many were injured. In Valencia alone, there were seven people who were shot. One a former beauty queen was shot and died today, further incensing students.
Then today, as protests became widespread when opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was supposed to be arraigned in Caracas, but was instead moved to a military facility in Los Teques where the arraignment was supposed to take place. This is not only illegal, but shows the political character of Lopez’ detention. While he has been jailed, none of those seen in pictures and videos killing the students on February 12th. have been detained. And the Head of the intelligence police was removed, but given another position,which could be considered a promotion.
By this afternoon, protests were blocking highways and major intersections all over Caracas, from Catia to Petare. The biggest concentration was in Plaza Altamira from where the Government mounted a huge attack with National Guards, police and “colectivos” in motorcycles. There were barricades all over the area but with time the Government thugs moved up to Altamira square. First they used tear gas, but by the end they were using cops and colectivos in motorcycles, shooting weapons, not only tear gas.
This is a video about a block from Plaza Altamira tonight:
this is another:
This was happening as Maduro gave a rambling speech in which he was aggressive and calling for peace at the same time and defending the “colectivos” as groups that work for the fatherland.
At this time, people have been shot in La Candelaria at this time of day, while protest have begun in Catia in Western Caracas. At least two people are reported to be shot dead in the west of Caracas.
Repression in San Cristobal, Tachira State, where the protests begun seems to be the worst. The Government shut off electricity and communications to the city as National Guard tanks went into it.
I stay very close to one of the hottest spots of repression. While I tried to watch parts of the action, it became dangerous. Students came into our parking lot seeking refuge from the guards who wanted to detain them. Fortunately they did not come in into our building, which they did all over the place. This is absolutely illegal.
I saw either police or guardsman go on the sidewalk on a motorcycle following students that were trying to escape from their attacks on the streets. They had some sort of rifle in their hand, either tear gas or a real gun. As repressive a scene as you could ever imagine.
This is not going to stop here. Students are becoming more radical, as the Government turns the repression an the human rights violations to an incredibly new level, without any shame. Maduro praising the colectivos tonight was simply a declaration that this Government is more than a dictatorship. It has now become one in which repressive violence will be openly used against the population that disagrees with or protests against the Government. This can only lead to further violence.
I find it hard to believe that there is no dissent within the Government about this new tack. Internationally, the repression together with the arbitrary detention of opposition figures has shown the world the true face of the Maduro Government, where appearances are no longer important.
And that is an image, the Government can not erase.
(This post was supposed to go on last night, but computer problems did not allow me to upload it, sorry).
The Devil's Excrement 
November 4, 2014 at 4:06 pm
[…] Two excellent local bloggers blog in English for the many citizens that have fled the country over the years. I’ve selected one article from each, but if you have the interest, do visit their “home” pages. Please checkout this article and this one. […]
February 26, 2014 at 9:16 am
[…] Two excellent local bloggers blog in English for the many citizens that have fled the country over the years. I’ve selected one article from each, but if you have the interest, do visit their “home” pages. Please checkout this article and this one. […]
February 22, 2014 at 8:09 am
stay tuned
February 22, 2014 at 7:48 am
Folks, we won.
February 22, 2014 at 7:43 am
Jack is blogging so where going to get some good military and law enforcement analysis in english. Also check out Notiven directory
http://caracasgringo.wordpress.com/
http://www.notiven.com/
February 21, 2014 at 7:35 am
[…] The headlines also express pessimism and desperation: ”As Protests Become Widespread, So Does Repression in Venezuela.” […]
February 20, 2014 at 5:05 pm
Two Sukhoi Flankers just did low-level passes over San Cristobal. They had no armament or externals stores. They did scare a lot of folks.
February 20, 2014 at 6:22 pm
Hmm. Wonder who is being trusted with the pilot helmets? Of course unarmed, they wouldn’t be trusted with armed planes. Something unplanned might get detonated.
February 20, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Miguel, while I applaud the usage, you have to fix “detonated.”
February 20, 2014 at 3:26 pm
Fixed, those pesky automatic correction systems, not the most proof read post in my history, I had to start working this morning, but wanted to post. Out of the office by now, the action in Altamira section of Ven-Beirut is starting.
February 20, 2014 at 1:35 pm
this URL will give the latest videos (past hour) uploaded to the Web (courtesy of Google)
http://goo.gl/YSs8GI
February 20, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Miguel, I see a lot of motorcycles in your night videos; are there paramilitaries and police?
February 20, 2014 at 12:53 pm
NTN24 live feed
February 20, 2014 at 12:28 pm
Mao Zedong said:
“political power grows out the barrel of a gun”
February 20, 2014 at 2:40 pm
Civ4
February 20, 2014 at 11:28 am
¿Qué se me antoja hoy?
matar a los estudiantes, pues.
February 20, 2014 at 12:25 pm
Controlled forex for the masses.
Una vez que la ley sea publicaa en Gaceta Oficial este jueves, se procederá a establecer el convenio cambiario que fijará las condiciones de funcionamiento del Sicad 2, las cuales serán revisadas periódicamente, y las modalidades de intercambio bajo la rectoría del Estado venezolano.
Leer más en: http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/maduro-puso-en-marcha-sicad-2.aspx#ixzz2tsrzy6gn
February 20, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Kids, unarmed,
walking streets,
shouting inanities
fill him with
unimaginable dread.
Flowers, flags and smiles
need to be exterminated.
Such items have no
place in his country.
Imagine his dreams
of flowers, flags
and smiles turning into
never-ending nightmares.
Peace? Never!
February 20, 2014 at 1:32 pm
What then?
Well a madurocracy,
a fluorescent
presidential
reflective sash
visible everywhere
on this earth.
A comfortable
throne, inlaid
with bony mementos
of children killed.
A mace garishly
adorned with
the country’s
tricolor
would be a welcome start.
February 20, 2014 at 1:40 pm
Oh, lest you forget –
A monumental figure of
him with extended arms
replacing the cross of Avila.
[Just like Christ Redeemer
Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
To be a World Wonder
no less.]
February 20, 2014 at 10:15 am
It is just sheer bad luck that events in Venezuela are coinciding with those in Ukrain, where an equally repressive regime has cornered and monopolized press and political attention across the globe. Most news organizations pay scant attention to what is happening in Venezuela. The blood and gore in Ukraine has captured their attention for now leaving little space for out plight.
February 20, 2014 at 10:44 am
Wrong! There is little doubt that Vladimir Putin and Raul Castro purposely told the Ukrainian President to invade those camps in Kiev on the very day of Leopoldo’s arrest. Little doubt. That’s how the real world works. You do the ‘killings’ simultaneously as the world is overwhelmed with news. Little doubt.
February 20, 2014 at 10:58 am
….and through in a bit of Sochi 2014 and it’s signed sealed and delivered.
February 20, 2014 at 9:33 am
No reports of any deaths last night in any formal news outlet.
Wasn’t a kid in La Candelaria shot dead yesterday evening?
Either everybody is lying on twitter or the level of auto-censorship in Venezuela has reached alarming proportions.
February 20, 2014 at 9:01 am
And Oliver Stone says….
February 20, 2014 at 11:14 am
Democratically elected government LOL?! The government controls all voting machines and voting locations, they count the votes and identify anyone who doesn’t vote chavista. These people lose their jobs and are harassed and blacklisted. Thousands of dead people regularly vote for chavistas, including a woman who died in 1839!!! Election results don’t matter anyway when the chavistas announce that they will not leave power even if they lose the election and that they will respond with violence like unleashing the Tupamaro biker psychos. Commies always kill sooner or later. But as the Hollywood genius and communist millionaire Oliver Stone says, the opposition are just sore losers. Tell that to the parents of GENESIS CARMONA, Maduro, but be sure to clear it with Fidel first.
February 20, 2014 at 12:55 pm
this is from 2009 when he was beeing romanced for the movie. Yes he took the money and made the film. That’s behind him. Chavez is dead. This is a distraction.
February 20, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Folks, Danny Glover got the money and others followed. Some succesfully and some not (Kevin Spacey and Naomi Campbell got nothing). Everyone was into this for themselves. Chavez is dead. This won’t be a problem anymore…no son pendejos. Glover, Penn and Stone son bien vivos and they where looking after their own interests first and foremost. Penn is a good guy believe it or not. He has more spine, balls and backbone that everyone else in Hollywood.
February 20, 2014 at 1:01 pm
I want to add that Sean Penn has more than made up for his Chavez affair. He fully knows what is going on and has made up for it by rescuing someone from that hell and returning them safely home.
February 20, 2014 at 1:53 pm
NT,
Show me a public statement from Sean Penn that he has reformed and is now counter to the socialist Chavista government. He did his damage. What is he doing to repair it?
Otherwise I hope Penn is paying you well for the PR.
February 20, 2014 at 5:04 pm
He paid a lot of money to rescue a fellow American from Bolivia. He hired Cubans in Miami. The same folks that help your sorry venezuelan asses in miami.
February 20, 2014 at 5:22 pm
lo enganaron ok? El sabe. tu crees que se va a disculpar o reconocer? Tu no conoces a artistas
February 20, 2014 at 5:26 pm
se me olvido… la pelicula de el en venezuela no se dio. Yes he’s full of himself
February 20, 2014 at 8:58 am
Reblogged this on U.S. Constitutional Free Press.
February 20, 2014 at 8:58 am
Miguel looks like your predictive text editor got the best of you:
…the students on February 12th. have been detonated.
Should be detained I would think although in a sense detonated might fit.
This problem is not going to go away.
Maduro has to step down.
He keeps saying he won’t but I get the feeling that like everything they say it’s all hogwash.
The problem then is what’s next?
Who’s going to take over the mess?
Whoever it is better come in with some rational ideas about how to turn the country around.
First on the list is all the xyazyzing Cubans.
Then disarm the collectivas.
Then get rid of all the malandros in the GNB.
Disband the other national police group and take away their arms.
No one said it would be an easy road but I feel that we have finally reached the tipping point.
Does anyone know how many were killed last night?
I read one report in Twitter that there were 10 in just one area.
February 20, 2014 at 8:56 am
Reblogged this on danmillerinpanama and commented:
Governmental violence and other forms of repression continue to widen and deepen across Venezuela. Meanwhile, the remarkably astute Danny Glover, a self-acknowledged expert on freedom and repression worldwide, urges
Mr. Glover’s remarkable insights into the violent and repressive nature of
the Chavista regimeopponents of the free and democratically elected Chavista regime obviously deserve a Nobel Peas Prize; or something.February 20, 2014 at 11:11 am
All the Hollywood comunistas ricos should be rounded up and sent to Cuba or Venezuela to live. One way ticket.
February 20, 2014 at 11:19 am
Even if Glover is on the Chavista payroll, his statement is puta mierda. Free speech is nice, but this is slanderous. Glover’s acting needs to face reality. Maybe walking through the streets of Venezuela with gold chains and getting mugged would change his mind.
February 20, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Pathetic
February 20, 2014 at 8:53 am
You’re right Miguel, they should have been detonated…
February 20, 2014 at 10:24 am
detained
February 20, 2014 at 4:11 pm
I like detonated better.
February 20, 2014 at 8:53 am
Last night there was a protest about two blocks from my house in Las Palmas. An hour or two after it stared the Colectivo gangsters showed up to break it up. There was a lot of shouting and swearing but no injuries as far as I could tell.
February 20, 2014 at 8:49 am
“Freedom isn’t free.” This is going to be a long, hard slog. And the Cuban puppet masters have had 50+ years of practice in holding on to power by repressing people and ignoring basic human rights. To say nothing of ignoring world opinion. What’s even more unimaginable is that they did it without the devil’s excrement.
I don’t suggest another strike, I suggest a total sit-in. A hundred thousand souls surrounding the government buildings.