Two more people were killed in violence today in Venezuela, raising the total death toll there to 21. They were shot by snipers.
"Where are the opposition politicians to condemn these events, to search for peace like we're searching?" Maduro asked. He called those building the barricades "vandals who hate the people."
To be fair (see below) many opposition groups don't condone the violence. But many other opposition factions do not sufficiently respect the process enough to be able to keep their people in line.
The UN took Maduro to task for allegations of human rights violations. But while any violations of human rights by Maduro are inexcusable, the greater responsibility in a conflict lies in the hands of the instigator. The US has funded efforts to overthrow or defeat the socialist government, which has been repeatedly reelected in free and fair elections, for the last decade. For the UN to be credible in resolving this conflict, they must pressure the opposition to stop engaging in vigilantism and stop accepting aid from the US in an effort to accomplish through violence what they haven't yet been able to do at the ballot box.
Unlike Ukraine, the protests are not big enough and the military has remained loyal to Maduro.
Those demonstrations have brought Venezuela's worst unrest in a decade. Street protests helped briefly topple the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez in botched 2002 coup. Yet there seems to be little chance of a change of the current government, given that the protests have remained relatively small and the military appears to remain behind Maduro.
How small?
Lisa Sullivan, who has lived in Venezuela for the last 30 years, provides a first hand account.
I returned to Venezuela on Feb. 23, 11 days after the protests began, to find Caracas surprisingly normal. Buses, subway trains and pedestrian traffic all moved at their usual hectic pace. Streets were filled with schoolchildren and office workers; shops, banks and restaurants were open and bustling. After hours of traversing various zones of the city with errands and seeing absolutely nothing amiss, I opened my email that evening to messages from friends in the U.S. “Lisa, how are you getting by?” read one of them. “We’ve heard that the roads in Caracas are completely blocked.”
Maduro has called for dialogue with the opposition. Now, Sullivan reports that is actually happening, something you don't hear if you simply rely on the corporate media. It was broadcast prominently on state TV and involved people from all walks of life. And to their credit, some of the opposition participated in this dialogue.
I flew back to my home city of Barquisimeto, 166 miles west of Caracas, the next day. As with the scenes in the capital, nothing seemed amiss. I turned on the TV to see if the national picture was bleaker. All Venezuelan stations carried a live broadcast of an emergency national peace conference hosted by President Nicolas Maduro in an effort to halt the violence by bringing together diverse sectors of society. I sat transfixed for four hours as prominent Venezuelan academics, journalists and religious, business and opposition leaders shared their concerns about the economy and crime. All expressed commitment to Venezuela’s stability and disdain for the violent tactics of many protesters. Maduro took notes and said his government supported many of the suggestions raised at the conference. Watching the discussion from such an array of Venezuelan stakeholders left me hopeful.
The main opposition group,
the MUD, did not.
MUD Executive Director Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said his organization received the invitation after 10 p.m. Tuesday and that the government had not laid out an agenda.
Aveledo said he tried to get clarity from the vice president’s office on Wednesday, to no avail. But he underscored that the opposition wants to talk.
“It’s time to face the crude reality and speak sincerely and seriously,” Aveledo wrote to the government, “without tricks or hidden cards, and with clear rules and transparency.”
The problem is that elections have consequences. If Aveledo's party had been in charge, he would have called the shots in the same way. But to their credit, the opposition leaders that were at the conference called for an end to the violence. This means that as long as the protestors continue to shoot at people, the more that these people will marginalize themselves. And another problem is that it was a "where do you go from here" meeting. Meetings of this nature have to be open-ended so that people who need to have a say in the process get to have their say.
Sullivan reports that despite the inflation, living conditions have still gotten substantially better.
Today, that same community has an elementary and secondary school, and a free university that functions on the weekends. Every evening, the university offers adult classes. My neighbors are now doctors, lawyers and teachers. Their younger siblings face few barriers to pursuing their dreams. There are 18 new homes — double the amount before, with approximately the same population — built by the local community council in my enclave. Many of my neighbors have replaced horse sheds with driveways for their vehicles. There is also a free medical clinic, staffed by Cuban doctors and Venezuelan medical students from my community, half a mile down the road.