Red-clad “Chavistas” rallied in central Caracas on Saturday to protest the killing of a young ruling party lawmaker, while across town a protest called by the opposition’s new leader failed to attract as big a crowd.
Caracas says the stabbing to death of the 27-year-old Robert Serra in his home earlier this month is part of a wider plot by an elitist, self-interested opposition to bring down the nation’s socialist experiment, created by late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
“Do you know why they killed Robert Serra?” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked ralliers.
Photo: Reuters
“To silence us. The right-wing fascists are scared of young rebels, young revolutionaries,” Maduro said, clad in a yellow, blue and red Venezuelan tracksuit.
Several people have been arrested in Serra’s case, including one of his bodyguards. Maduro has also blamed Colombian armed groups, although some media outlets contend that the case looks like an inside job. Venezuelan opposition leaders deny involvement.
Critics say Maduro, whose popularity has slipped, is seeking to capitalize on the crime to distract from shortages of basic goods, sky-high crime rates and 60 percent annual inflation.
“I am here because I am against the Venezuelan right’s fascist activities,” said Rosario Carabello, a 37-year-old employee at a government scholarship foundation.
Carabello wore a T-shirt with the face of Chavez among a crowd whipped up by traditional joropo music and speeches.
A few kilometers away in East Caracas, the Democratic Unity opposition coalition held its first protest since several months of demonstrations that petered out in May.
“What Maduro has done is incentivize hate,” said Manuel Castro, a 35-year-old administrative assistant for the opposition government of the state of Miranda.
Castro said he cannot find diapers for his child, has been robbed several times and struggles to make ends meet because of inflation.
However, the opposition event drew just a couple of hundred supporters, a far cry from the thousands at the pro-government march.
Many opposition protesters are tired or demoralized, while moderates feel demonstrations are a nuisance that fuel accusations that they are coup-mongerers.
“I hope people wake up,” said 18-year-old student Christopher, who was draped in a Venezuelan flag.
He declined to give his last name because he said he feared repression.
The opposition is seeking to regroup and drum up support after the protests, which left 43 people dead, with victims on both sides.
The coalition’s inner divisions, a brief 2002 coup against Chavez and a reputation for elitism have also long hung over it.
It named Jesus Torrealba, a 56-year-old journalist, teacher and activist for the poor, to unite opposition factions and prepare for next year’s parliamentary elections.
“Today the people are showing that we can unite again and fight to recover democracy,” Torrealba said during the rally.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in