Watching Venezuela Implode

I had to laugh a little bit at this NBC picture of Venezuelan riot police suffering through their own tear gas because they weren't equipped with protective masks.

The protests will keep going and the people really don't want the dictator called Maduro. If I got it right, they are not going to give up until he is gone.
And Maduro won't just quit either. Can only hope on lots of news reporting and the world putting pressure on him.
He never won the elections, but stole it. The world doesn't seem to care, how two faced.
I hope the death count will stay low.

Hey, at least that seems to be regular tear gas, they were throwing some weird green stuff the other day that made people vomit, turns out it was a nauseating agent with high levels of arsenic in it's formula and banned pretty much everywhere sane for crowd control because it can kill you quite easily.

Protests will keep going, however, we're not calling on a general strike because as it stands it would only hurt the barely surviving businesses, while serving as an excuse for the regime to elude responsability on the impending economic meltdown.

As a side note I'm being a bit more active last couple of days on twitter sharing stuff I think can help people with no previous knowledge about Venezuela learn a bit more about what's really going on. I'm not much of a commentator per se and mainly retweet whatever I find interesting at the moment, In case you guys are reading I hope that you find it useful.

Be careful man.

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Good Twitter account to follow : Elaferris

Leopoldo just got arrested. He gave himself up freely. Yet, there is no official warrant out. I doubt his wife and two kids ever see him back.
The rest of the world is really ignoring all of this and I find this incredulous and more than just scary.

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Juan Carlos Hidalgo has an analysis of the current situation over at Cato. tl;dr is that it's not pretty, and not likely to end well - the protesters don't have any reasonable way to defend themselves and the Maduro government has a lot of incentives to crack down hard. I think it's likely that the tupamaros will be used for the majority of the violence, and then scapegoated as criminals. That's a twofer for the government - the protests get suppressed, and then they can crack down on the criminals and show they are doing something about crime.

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tip of the day: I can see my office from here

Had to cross through the march earlier on a way to a business meeting, unfortunately we were on a rush so I didn't take any pics then (it wasn't as crowded when I left thou)
After the meeting ended it was impossible to return to the office.

So yeah....I basically skipped the whole Leopoldo affair today, even thou I work two blocks away from where all the action took place.

That ... is a lot of people.

Aetius wrote:

That ... is a lot of people.

Exactly what I was thinking.

So, there is talk outside Venezuela about an arrest warrant, but there never was one. Making it illegitimate.
Not that the government there really cares. Leopoldo is arrested either way and being taken outside the country.

At the moment tanks are shooting and the opposition is telling their people to stay steady and not to give up.

So, there is talk outside Venezuela about an arrest warrant, but there never was one. Making it illegitimate.
Not that the government there really cares. Leopoldo is arrested either way and being taken outside the country.

At the moment people on top of the tanks are shooting and the opposition is telling their people to stay steady and not to give up.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Aetius wrote:

That ... is a lot of people.

Exactly what I was thinking.

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I've got more from where that came from

Nomad wrote:

Be careful man.

Will do my friend

Heard that tanks are out on the street. CNN got ambushed by 'some guys on bikes' with weapons and took all their equipment. Although I would suspect it's an easy way to get outside reporting from not happening.

Holy f*ck, man. Stay safe!

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Genesis Carmona, a beauty queen fatally shot in the head during a protest.

I know that the only reason the Daily News (or any American media outlet) is willing to pay any attention to this is because they got a evocative shot of a murdered beauty queen, but I must admit, I saw this, and immediately thought of Neda Agha-Soltan. I doubt this will be any more of a catalyst that those who've already lost their lives, but still.

OMG terrible, stay safe Feeank.

I haven't heard or seen it myself. But Obama said a few words about the situation. Told Maduro to take care of this internal situation.
Also asked to release Leopoldo. Have mixed feelings about this. Using words as 'internal situation' which it isn't. The world should help the people of Venezuela.

I don't think the people can back down anymore. Stay safe Feeank!

I think when you've reached the point of motorcycle gangs roaming the streets shooting randomly at people, the time to stay safe is past. It's time to fight.

Just heard that journalists have seen Cuban military.

Also found these pics. Pretty spot on:
'Matter of style'
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'At this time we have guaranteed peace'

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Take care, Feeank. What's happening is truly awful.

Remember back in 2002 the pivotal role CNN had informing about Chavez' whereabouts and giving a voice to his supporters to deny his resignation?
Well, last night Maduro kicked CNN out of the country for good, revoking every working permit to all the local staff while also harrassing CNN's main correspondant on her way out by holding her at customs, screening her several times and leading her to an office to do further analysis on her shoes because of "suspicious dark markings", while at the same time emitting remarks about how it was probable that she and her producer were "partners" because the producer insisted to accompany her to the searches.

So yeah, time to be careful indeed

Wonder what is next. Internet black out? Am afraid things will get worse before they become better.
But, the people in Kiev won in the end. The world can turn its focus on Venezuela maybe now?
Either way, GL Feeank. If there is something that can be done, let me know.

Holy sh*t, this is really looking bad. Stay safe, Feeank.

Another young woman, Geraldine Moreno, died today after 2 days of agony. While running from the national guard that started repressing the protest she was taking part in, she fell to the ground and was then shot point blank to the face with a pellet shotgun, losing an eye and having her face desfigured.

Last night a motorcyclist going through an area that had suffered attacks by pro-government "colectivos" last couple of days, died after getting tangled in a wyre defense setup by the protesters.

Earlier today

Also, Maduro said that now CNN is A-OK again, as long as they inform "the Truth"

edit: typo



Not sure what info is right, but the result is devastating. I hope your people won't give up and don't have to give up, until that asshole is gone Feeank!
You are in my thoughts.

Sparhawk wrote:



Not sure what info is right, but the result is devastating. I hope your people won't give up and don't have to give up, until that asshole is gone Feeank!
You are in my thoughts.

I keep forgetting to acknowledge all the messages of support. Thank you guys!

I'm staying safe and other than marching I'm not getting into the heavy protests. However , I'm being as active as I can on twitter and facebook in order to keep people around me better informed, as most people will share and spread anything they receive, including outdated info/phoney news out of the desire to help and participate, but in doing so they contribute to the regime's propaganda efforts, so I try to track outrageous rumors and get whoever posted it to delete it.

I would like to ask for a bit of help. Nothing major, just to give Venezuela a tweet, a facebook post, even though the democratic make-up is washing away from the regime, there are many people everywhere that still see the Venezuelan government as some flamboyant anti-imperialists freedom-fighters. Let them know about what's really happening, you can use the tag #SOSVenezuela or #PrayforVenezuela, show your support, let people know what's really happening.
For those of you not so keen on social media, keep us in your thoughts whenever you interact with someone around you that is misinformed or oblivious about the tragic happenings we've been going through last 2 weeks, let them know about the real situation.