The government and the opposition traded accusations after at least three people were shot dead in the worst unrest since protests last year that followed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s narrow election victory.
Almost a year after the death of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the bloodshed on Wednesday was the latest demonstration of the deep polarization and the mutual mistrust between the two political camps.
Three people were shot dead after pro and anti-government marches in Caracas. Maduro said another person was in critical condition, and he blamed “small fascist groups” that he said infiltrated the opposition protest.
“They want to topple the government through violence,” Maduro said on state television. “They have no ethics, no morals... We will not permit any more attacks.”
ARRESTS, INJURIES
A government official said 23 people were injured, 25 arrested, four police vehicles torched and several government offices vandalized. Some opposition protesters, many with their faces covered, threw stones and burned tires in the streets.
Using the slogan “The Exit,” meaning Maduro’s departure from power, hardline opposition groups have been holding mostly small protests around the country for the past two weeks, complaining about crime, corruption and the fast-rising cost of living.
Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader who has called on his supporters to take to the streets, said the government planned the bloodshed to try to discredit his peaceful movement.
“The government is playing the violence card, and not for the first time,” Lopez told Reuters TV after the shootings.
“They’re blaming me without any proof... I’m innocent. I have a clear conscience because we called for peace,” he said, adding that the demonstrations would continue.
“We won’t retreat and we can’t retreat because this is about our future, about our children, about millions of people,” he said.
The protests have exposed differences within the opposition’s leadership, with some favoring a more moderate approach and saying marches that turn violent only play into the government’s hands as it accuses them of being “saboteurs.”
Maduro, a 51-year-old former bus driver and union activist, has staked his presidency on maintaining Chavez’s leftist legacy.
He says opposition extremists want to recreate the situation in 2002, when huge street protests led to a coup that briefly ousted Chavez. He returned to power with the help of loyal soldiers and hundreds of thousands of “Chavistas” who took to the streets in protest at the coup.
There have been no signs that the current melees could topple Maduro.
FINGERPOINTING
Opposition and government supporters took to social media to blame their foes for Wednesday’s bloodshed, a familiar pattern in Venezuela where both sides routinely blame the other despite having little reliable information to go on.
The opposition blames armed pro-government militant groups known as colectivos for attacking dozens of their marches over the years, scattering their supporters and spreading fear.
“The colectivos are coming!” was a cry heard several times at the opposition’s latest rally, prompting some demonstrators to flee for the safety of a nearby Metro station.
One of the dead was a colectivos leader, Maduro said.
Two spokesmen for the colectivos appeared on state TV late on Wednesday to call for calm, and to demand Lopez face charges of inciting violence.
Sporadic political protests have become common over the last decade, but they usually fizzle out within days as residents grow tired of blocked streets and the smell of burning tires.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was