Most remarkably, newspapers in the United States seem very confused about how this all happened in Venezuela. It’s right in front of their faces – Socialism kills. The future of Venezuela is now dependent on the military and police defecting from Maduro and some are doing exactly that.
Thor Halvorssen of the Human Rights Foundation tweeted that “the military in parts of Venezuela has begun to defect. They are now marching with the protesters. Dozens of soldiers are under arrest,” he wrote.
Why has it taken so long?
There’s a reason. The military is loaded with Chavez loyalists but this mess created by Socialism under Chavez and Maduro has reached into the lives of most Venezuelans.
The death toll is nearly at 40 and thousands of women marched in the streets Saturday. It was billed as the “women’s march against repression.” Unlike the protests against repression in the U.S., this one is based on real misery, not imagined oppression.
In #Venezuela women march for #HumanRights &#democracy https://t.co/SZ1GxgTNr1
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 6, 2017
Thousands of women took over streets in major cities all around the South American country. While banging on pots and while wearing the white shirts of Maduro’s opponents, the women sang the national anthem and chanted, “Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!”
As they marched, local media carried a video showing people toppling a statue of the late President Hugo Chavez the day before in the western state of Zulia.
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Venezuela protesters tear down statue of Hugo Chavez
Retweet = remind people what socialism leads topic.twitter.com/6UStaUES8n
— NIRP Umbrella (@NIRPUmbrella) May 7, 2017
Some marched topless, others wore gear to protect against rubber bullets, and one came in a wedding dress.
Some of the women marchers approached soldiers in riot gear to offer them white roses and invite them to join the cause. “What will you tell your kids later on?” one woman asked.
As expected, police in riot gear took control of the roads into the capital city.
Even in areas where Chavez had been popular until recently, people are protesting.
On Friday Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez denounced the protest movement, and said opposition “terrorists” were attempting a kind of nonconventional warfare.
The country is on the verge of civil war because the people can’t get food, medicine, they can’t get ordinary staples.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a former bus driver, on Monday announced the creation of a new popular assembly which demonstrators decried as a power grab aimed at sidelining the National Assembly.
The protesters have been marching every day since March because of his latest response to the peoples’ suffering.
According to Bloomberg, on a call with the president of Peru, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. A statement from the White House’s Office of the Press Secretary said Trump underscored to President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski that “the United States will work together with Peru in seeking to improve democratic institutions and help the people of Venezuela.”
“We are deeply concerned about the Maduro government’s violent crackdown on protestors in Venezuela. President Maduro’s disregard for the fundamental rights of his own people has heightened the political and economic crisis in the country,” said Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in a statement. “The Maduro regime must respect Venezuela’s constitution and the voice of its people. We are particularly concerned that the government is failing to provide basic food and medical needs to the Venezuelan people,” Haley said.
Our statement on the humanitarian and human rights situation in Venezuela: pic.twitter.com/ikB3Cyg0Eh
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 6, 2017
H.R. McMaster, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, met on Friday with Julio Borges, the president of Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly, about the civil unrest which has been near-daily for five weeks, the White House said on Saturday.
On Saturday Borges, the leader of the left-wing party in Venezuela called for open rebellion as well as Maduro’s resignation, while rejecting any “dialogue” with the administration.
