The latest craze, it seems, is having massive, violent protests. The trend started in earnest a few years a go with what was commonly described as the Arab Spring. Egypt enjoyed their brief fling with demonstrations and protests so much they did it twice. Recently, Ukraine has been getting in on the act. And now, Venezuela is taking a swing at it.
What do you know about Venezuela? The name Hugo Chávez might ring a few bells. You might be able to point it out on a map by chance by flinging a finger at South America, but beyond that, not much eh? As a brief history of the country, Venezuela like many South American countries has suffered much political turmoil. However, it has had democratically elected governments since 1958, yet still suffers through attempted coups, fierce opposition. Due to failing faith in the parties during the 1990s, which mostly came as a result of poor economic performance, Hugo Chávez, a man who had previously been involved with an attempted coup, was elected in 1998.
In what was termed the Bolivarian Revolution, named for a Venezuelan revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar from the early 1800s, Chavez ushered in new socialist policies into Venezuela. Importantly, Chávez’s anti-neoliberalism and neocolonialism thinking put Venezuela at odds with the International Community at large. Particularly, Chávez enjoyed a particularly foul relationship with the US, as well as the UN, as the pursuit of establishing a quasi-EU style of interdependency in South America challenged US influence (for a clear indicator of the US’s feeling towards Bolivarian Venezuela, look at the attempted coup in 2002, of which the US was allegedly involved).
However, in March 2013, Chávez died of cancer and was subsequently replaced by the man who is now president, Nicolas Maduro. He would later go on to legitimise his new Presidency with a very narrow electoral victory a month later. Maduro immediately encountered opposition in the form of the close runner up, Capriles Radonski, who lost out in the election by 1.5% of the vote. Radonski called bull on the election results and demanded an audit of the electoral process. When one was granted, he withdrew his initial request for an audit and issued a new one, so thorough that it included finger print tests of ballot cards. When this was denied by a judge, on the basis that it would take longer to do than the actual term of the president, and thus was ridiculous, Radonski complained a bit and then receded into the shadows.
But now, Venezuela faces yet more problems. Since early January this year, there have been protests against the government, led not by Radonski (whose credibility suffered after shaking Maduro’s hand publicly), but by new pre-eminent opposition head Leopoldo Lopez. But why are the people protesting? Venezuela is now being described as one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Additionally, due to economic tampering with the currency in 2013, there has been a scarcity of basic necessities and goods. As we have seen previously in Egypt, as well as other states that have recently undergone similar protests, a lack of the basics can really motivate people against a government.
However, whilst a good bit of protest can be good for the soul of a country, things in Venezuela are escalating drastically: now the protests have turned violent. 3 people have been killed by gunshot wounds and a large number injured, in the capital Caracas as well as other cities. Recently, the stand-off between the interior forces and the anti-government protesters has been augmented with the introduction of pro-government supporters, whom seem to be offered special exceptions to the law. There have been reports of the interior forces standing by as pro-government supporters fire upon buildings occupied by anti-government protesters with firearms.
This past Tuesday, the leader of the opposition party Popular Will, Leopoldo Lopez, turned himself over to the authorities, having been charged with a number of offences, including, but not limited to; murder, inciting violence and arson. Needless to say, he denies any wrong doing and claims to be seeking peaceful, democratic change. Mr Lopez has stated that he hopes his arrest will highlight flaws and corruption within the judicial system.
Regrettably, not only has there been a mass media blackout within Venezuela, but by and large the international media has turned a blind, dismissive eye. What exactly will happen, we can’t be sure. European media is largely concerned with the crisis in Ukraine. American media has almost no coverage over it whatsoever, at least on its websites. Today, CNN had its reporters expelled from the country over its assuredly unbiased reporting on the protests. Al-Jazeera equally ignores what’s going on. Currently, it is the BBC that would appear to be at the forefront of reporting on what is going on. Yet President Maduro seems to be on a media offensive. CNN is only the latest to be kicked out as restrictions on media is increasing. Many things about the protests are deeply troubling, but unfortunately it is far enough away, and frequent enough, to avoid motivating the public interest thus far.