Memory refresher from 2014: Behind the right-wing revolt in Venezuela
Behind the right-wing revolt in Venezuela
February 24, 2014
. . .
FOR OVER a week now, the world's press and media have carried images of a Venezuela in flames. Burning buses, angry demonstrations, public buildings under siege. But the pictures are rarely explained or placed in any kind of context, and people are left to assume that this one more urban riot, one more youth rebellion against the crisis, like those in Greece and Spain. The reality is both very different and far more complex. Venezuela, after all, is a society that declared war on neoliberalism 15 years ago.
Caracas, where this series of events began, is a divided city. Its eastern part is middle class and prosperous; to the west, the population is poorer. The political divide reflects exactly the social division.
Leopoldo López, who has been a leader of this new phase of violent opposition to the government of Nicolás Maduro, was mayor of one of the eastern districts. Together with another prominent right-wing anti-chavista, María Corina Machado, he had issued a call for an open public meeting the previous Sunday to demand the fall of the government. Youth Day, on Wednesday, February 12, provided an opportunity to bring out students to march, demonstrate and occupy the streets.
The majority of the burning barricades, however, were built in middle-class areas. And the students building them came from either the private universities or the state university, which had largely excluded poorer students in recent times. There was almost nothing happening in the poorer areas to the west. But in more recent days, the class character of the demonstrations has become clearer. The government's new bus system--offering clean and safe travel at low prices--has been attacked; 50 of these "Metro Buses" were torched in one day alone.
More:
http://socialistworker.org/2014/02/24/the-right-revolts-in-venezuela
It's good to recall what started happening the moment Hugo Chavez died, and even the trash which happened during his last days. Venezuela needs to be free of the dishonest, treacherous, parasitic oligarchy.
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