Nicolas Maduro Takes Disciplinary Action Against Venezuelan Town That Humilitated Him
Last Friday Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro went to the neighborhood of Villa Rosa to show off a renovation project on Margarita Island, which was full of people with pots and pans who were there to cheer him on and the Bolivarian Revolution, or so he thought.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Maduro was walking through the streets before he realized he was in a flash protest “surrounded by angry residents banging pots and shouting anti-government slogans.”
Mass protests in Venezuela, which took place during the first week of September, have been widely reported and were organized by the opposition party due to food shortages and favoritism towards reigning party members, which the Inquisitr details.
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Needless to say, President Nicolas Maduro and his team were caught off-guard in the protest and he was seen running through the streets to the safety of his convoy.
#Venezuela lawmaker: Nicolas Maduro cut off food to town where residents chased him offhttps://t.co/J3cps5MJAc pic.twitter.com/sAwgbGIXQl
— UPI.com (@UPI) September 7, 2016
The video was clearly captured where one can see Nicolas Maduro jogging along at first, before he slows down and attempts to make it appear that it’s business as usual.
The people in the neighborhood are demanding an end to 17 years of socialist rule and a recall referendum that will remove Nicolas Maduro from power, which he refuses to hold anytime soon.
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Within 24 hours, a local news editor Braulio Jatar was arrested and accused of carrying $43,000 dollars to fund a terrorist attack against leaders from other developing nations, who are scheduled to arrive in Margarita Island for a summit during the next week.
Many believe that Mr. Jatar was arrested for publishing the videos of the protest that embarrassed the president.
This is likely the reason for Nicolas Maduro’s visit, to create a positive view of him with the town before the meeting, showing off a refurbished project in the village. But the article goes on to reveal the flaws of this mentioned project and what they actually were.
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“Mr. Maduro’s event on Friday also infuriated residents. He came to inaugurate what the government said were 148 renovated houses. But the renovations consisted of freshly painted front walls and new windows in just one block of about 30 houses, inhabited mostly by members of the ruling party’s community council. Inside the housing complex, cracked walls and leaky pipes were visible.”
Bendecido día VENEZUELA hoy 2 Sep le tenemos una noticia: @NicolasMaduro sigue siendo Presidente y la MUD se hundió pic.twitter.com/bPNsBwaZ7r
— ORLANDO GUZMÁN (@OrlandoGuzman_) September 2, 2016
In the Inquisitr article mentioned above, there is a video report from PBS NewsHour which shows the problems the people of Venezuela are currently facing, and much like the treatment described as given to the ruling party’s community council favoritism, the same privileges are offered to them for groceries which regular people cannot access, creating long lines at the stores, hungry citizens, and mass outrage.
Following the embarrassing incident, the article also says that government workers were driven into the town in Socialist Party buses on Monday to apparently intimidate the opposition and take images of the town’s support for the president as a public relations move to cover up the incident.
Following Monday night, commandos came in and arrested several teenagers for apparently having Molotov cocktails and gasoline canisters which Nicolas Maduro says were meant to overthrow him.
The residents of Villa Rosa say that they decided to confront Nicolas Maduro because of the rising crime and the lack of jobs.
Dimitiris Pantoulas, who is a fellow at Caracas business school IESA in the capital, also offered his view of the rising tensions in Venezuela.
“The government’s response strategy is detached from reality. More hard months lie ahead, as this government becomes ever more authoritarian.”
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There were even more arrests of members of the opposition party, who have been very public about the referendum, and even that of teenagers who were interviewed for the piece who said they hadn’t eaten all day. Then they were accused of having materials to riot against the government, which the residents say were planted on them by the National Guard officers.
The Voice of America goes into more details in the symbolism of the clanging of pots and pans by those opposed to Nicolas Maduro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwRx8WW9G8g
[Image via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain]
