A night of mayhem. Burning Barricades in El Paraiso, in Montalban, in Quinta Crespo. Cacerolazos in Mariperez. A proper riot in La Vega. This is all deep in Caracas’s West Side. These are not the kinds of places where you expect these things to happen.
#12Abr 12:50am En la vega se mantienen las manifestaciones con la GNB pic.twitter.com/XgsIauNPOa – @360mundo
— Reporte Ya (@ReporteYa) April 12, 2017
12:12 am Montalbán 2 #Caracas (video cortesía vecino) pic.twitter.com/r8wmExyjNc
— Yohana Marra (@Yohanamarra) April 12, 2017
Further afield too. National Guard Armored Personnel Carriers on the streets of Guarenas following another there. Also Petare. Of course Petare.
#12Abr 12:50am continua protesta en menca guarenas enfrentamiento entre guardias y manifestantes – @aba5040c48b8495 pic.twitter.com/k6F3vf6EI5
— Reporte Ya (@ReporteYa) April 12, 2017
Four wounded in midnight protests in Barquisimeto and Cabudare. A PSUV party seat burned down in Merida. Burning barricades in Guacara. In Los Teques.
And then that video. From San Felix. Like Villa Rosa, just more so.
Este nuevo vídeo es muy fuerte. Maduro en #SanFelix pic.twitter.com/0HjQT4LcaL
— Luz Mely Reyes (@LuzMelyReyes) April 12, 2017
That guttural “¡Malditooo!” That moment that crystallizes everything.
And then that feeling. Evanescent, but impossible to miss. This isn’t normal. Even for us, this isn’t normal.
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And it’s all happening in Semana Santa! instead of heading to the beach people are protesting. That’s what’s telling me something is different.
I do think that perhaps we just saw the “Ceausescu Moment” last night in San Felix.
Welcome home prez….
I wonder there is no mention in El Universal.
Watch out for las patadas de ahogado!
Good Morning Jau, please elaborate on “patadas de ahogado”. Flutter kick of a drowning swimmer?
He means to watch out for any desperate actions of the government/Maduro may take if they start to feel the heat
Thanks. The expression is “spot on”
Yea, thats an expression. Depending on context, here is, well, even if it is clear they are doomed, they still can do some desperate thing, like a drowning man may still do some futile but vigorous kicking.
These ‘violent protests’ seem to be too soft, given the horrid situation those people are living in. And let’s not forget that when medicine and food are intentionally removed from one family, that’s an act of violence too. Go, Venezuela, you have nothing to lose but your socialist chains!
[…] Vasárnap már halálos áldozata is volt az összecsapásoknak, a hétfői tüntetéseken az oszlató rendőrök helikopterről lődözték a könnygázgránátokat. (Caracas Chronicles) […]
There is a certain feeling of poetic justice in that video of Maduro being egged in San Felix. I can’t recall anything similar happening before…EVER. If this was a sensible man he would simply know that the best would approach to the situation would be to quit and call elections right away for the sake of the country. Unfortunately, we are speaking about a senseless regime that will not release their power unless forced to. I am curious about how the regime will spin this situation in San Felix…how can they possible explain such raw rejection and emotion?
Maduro a puppet, the court Jester for the masses, the people around him are the ones in charge, Even if he deeps down wants to leave and enjoy an exile he cant. he is kinda of a tropical version of Yahya Jammeh.
I believe we are primed for the great march to Miraflores
Yes we are. El momento llegó. I think we are not in 2014 territory anymore.
Refreshing to see a crappy communist government being overthrown. Hope this will spread to Cuba next.
As Camus wrote “Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic. To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.”
Rocio San Miguel was on CNN’s Conclusiones last night and explained the situation of the FANB and how it is deformed from a traditional pyramid to an hour glass organization. Venezuela has a world record number of generals (I don’t remember the exact number but it was between 500 to 1500).
Generals know the fakes they are, but the privileges they are getting are unimaginable and unrepeatable without Maduro hence they owe canine fidelity to him.
In the middle of the hour glass you have the professional troops which are tested to be apparatchik, any dissent is not tolerated.
Finally you come to the bottom of the pyramid which are mostly recruits with no more than 2 years of service and poorly trained. Of course such youth and inexperience can exact reckless violence on their own people.
So indeed the Venezuela military is an occupying force of their own country, a state sponsored gangster force and the true enemy.
If things continue as they are they will need to use live rounds on the protesters and I think such criminals will just do it.
yes, I read that in Venezuela there is one general for every 28 soldiers.
In the US, for example, there is one general for every 600 soldiers.
In the US, it’s closer to one general or admiral per 2000 active service persons…and one per over 4000, including guard, reserve, and civilian employees and they are probably a little “top heavy.”
The use of live rounds will be the end for them, amply justifying armed outside intervention, something the locals and their Cuban masters are trying to avoid at all costs. Even once Venezuela rids itself (hopefully) of the Cuban scourge, it will still remain doing damage throughout the LA Region. Obama appeasement/hoped-for eventual transition is a too-slow and iffy process at best. Once more pressing matters are (hopefully) dealt with successfully (Syria/North Korea), the U. S. should take care of its own back yard….
If all this were happening in 2014, under Obama and Hillary pathetic watch, there would be hundreds of dead already. PSUV has shown enormous restraint until now. Imagine how much they want to mass murder and put an end to this in the same way their brothers of arms do in Syria, China and Cuba. But, very fortunately, they have their hands tied. And that will be their fall.
Well some South Africa type of negotiation is warranted where the crooks stay around and enjoy their ill gotten wealth. Otherwise they face the dictator’s retirement plan which is death (Gaddafi) or jail (Fujimori).
Cornered as they are, they will fight, and that they share with vulgar rats.
A sample of fighting words tossed around in Aporrea:
https://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/a244091.html
“Sin duda, el Comandante no se equivocó cuando te botó por allá por Asia.
No vengas ahora con tus posturas pseudo-institucionalistas”
OMG! This is priceless! haha!!!
What do you mean by taking care of its own back yard?
As for pressing matters, Venezuela is so far down the list it’s not even on the first page.
The back yard is Cuba, a festering metastatic cancerous sore….
Not going to happen. We are busy with other priorities. However, our best and brightest are thinking very hard about BRV. Cocaine seizures at sea are crazy. The tonnage of cocaine being seized in the Caribbean is all time high….These shipments depart from BRV.
At best, we would add more assets to the Caribbean and Pacific counter narcotics efforts.
The two triggers for military action are WMD and terrorism.
The WMD touches Cuba since DPRK has a CW buyer on the island (Kim’s surrogate father) who was recently designated by U.S.
El economista Luis Oliveros cuenta en su tweeter “Antes, a la llegada de la GNB o ante la primera bomba, la gente corría. Hoy la gente quiere avanzar, quiere seguir protestando.” Parece que realmente han cambiado algunas cosas en el país pero se ve muy poca gente en las protestas, no parecen tener mucho apoyo. Veremos quien lleva razón.
People cannot afford Semana Santa and they’re pissed off. It is no longer a refreshing and diverting break.
If this sustains on a large scale into next week, when people are supposed to be back at work, I think that might be an important indicator that a collapse is imminent.