By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Police and opposition demonstrators have clashed at the end of a march that gathered tens of thousands of people in Caracas on February 22. Police fired tear gas and activists hurled stones in the Altamira district where several people were injured.

Since the protests began, 10 people have died, 137 have been injured and 104 arrested, according to government figures. Demonstrators are accusing troops and pro-Maduro militants of attacking peaceful demonstrators.

A female student and a young supermarket worker were the latest fatalities from Venezuela’s political unrest. Geraldin Moreno, a 23-year old student, died in a hospital on Saturday after being shot in the face with rubber bullets as security forces broke up a protest on February 19. Santiago Enrique Pedroza, a 29 year-old man was killed late on Friday when he rode his motorcycle into a cable strung across a main road in the eastern neighborhood of Horizonte.”He was on his way home, he couldn’t see the cable because of the darkness, and it slit his throat,” Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told state television.

Maduro reiterated that the events of the last two weeks are a coup-in-the-making backed by the United States and financed by Colombia’s ex-president Álvaro Uribe, whom Maduro accuses Leopoldo Lopez of working closely with.

Anti-government protesters have repeatedly blocked streets in the area with trash, which they sometimes set on fire. Police and National Guard troops have often used teargas to separate demonstrators.

According to locals in San Cristobal, the state-capital of Tachira, the internet remained down until Friday. In another effort to neutralize mounting tensions, the minister of energy, Rafael Ramirez, has banned fuel distribution to areas he considers “under-siege”.

Private and public TV stations in the country have given little coverage to the street protests, or even to the incarceration of Lopez, who now awaits trial in a military prison. Several members of a CNN team had their journalist accreditation revoked and left the country amid accusations of “contributing with their coverage to psychological warfare.”

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning the systematic violation of personal freedom and the unlawful imprisonment of civilians.

On Friday, Maduro urged U.S. President Barack Obama to hold talks with his government and suggested the two nations restore ambassadors. “Accept the challenge and we will start a high-level dialogue and put the truth on the table,” Maduro said in a nationwide TV address.

The opposition is demanding that the president resign over rampant crime, high inflation, shortages of basic products, and what opposition members see as repression of political opponents.

The current wave of protests began on February 12. Three people were shot dead at the end of those marches in Caracas by unknown gunmen. Daily protests have been held in the capital for the past eleven days.

For more information please see:

Reuters – Venezuela deaths rise as unrest claims student and biker– 22 February 2014

BBC – Venezuelan police and opposition activists clash in Caracas – 22 February 2014

The Guardian – Venezuelans on streets again as protest leader awaits trial arrest – 22 February 2014

CNN – Venezuela’s Maduro wants talks with Obama – 21 February 2014

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – At least three people were shot dead as violence erupted during anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on February 12.

A crowd of demonstrators, many of them students, marched to the federal prosecutor’s office to demand the release of 13 protesters who they say were illegally detained in previous marches. The demonstration was the latest in a series of mass protests against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro.

A small group of protesters stayed behind after the end of the main march and clashed with security forces. It was at that time that a number of armed men on motorcycles shot at the crowd, triggering a stampede. Two people died after the gunmen opened fire and a third died in later clashes.

Authorities on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Leopoldo Lopez, head of the Venezuelan opposition party, Popular Will, on charges including conspiracy and murder in connection with the recent clashes. President Nicolas Maduro accused Lopez of instigating violence that led to the death of three people during the protests on February 12. Lopez, who has maintained his innocence, said he only called for peaceful protests. Military officials visited Lopez’s house in Caracas, and the residence of his parents, yesterday and showed a warrant that included the charge of intentional homicide.

Lopez said he’ll lead a march on February 18 to the Interior Ministry in Caracas where he’ll enter alone and present four petitions that declare the government responsible for the February 12 violence, ask for the release of students currently being held, and ask for the disarmament of pro-government groups known as collectives.

Young Venezuelans clashed again Friday where police used teargas and water cannon to clear some 1,000 protesters from Altamira Square in eastern Caracas, where some of them had lit trash bonfires and blocked streets. On Saturday, supporters of the opposition gathered again to sing and chant slogans in the square. Many then set off to block a major highway.

President Nicolas Maduro condemned the incidents, which he blamed on a “neo-fascist upsurge”. The president called for peace, but stressed that those who engaged in violence would not go unpunished. Maduro said state and senior military officials will work together to reduce violence.

Venezuela’s state prosecutor said 25 of 99 people arrested in connection with this week’s violence had been freed pending trial.

Maduro insists he is facing a slow-motion coup. “I want to alert the world. We are facing a developing coup plan against the democracy and the government that I preside over, orchestrated by a small group of irresponsible leaders, violent, full of hatred and personal ambitions,” he said Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department expressed concerns about the state of affairs in Venezuela. “We are deeply concerned by rising tensions, by the violence surrounding this February 12 protest and by the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of the opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez,” said spokeswoman Marie Harf. “We join the secretary general of OAS (Organization of American States) in condemning the violence and calling on authorities to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the death of peaceful protesters.”

Students are fed up with the lack of security and the poor state of Venezuela’s economy. Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world and is deeply politically polarized, with the opposition blaming the government for the country’s economic troubles and for shortages of basic products in stores. Inflation, at 56.2%, is the highest in the world. Amid stringent price and exchange controls, Venezuela is running out of hard currency to pay foreign suppliers of goods and services.

Maduro’s critics say he is ruining the economy by sticking with failed Chavez-era policies such as currency and price controls, which many local economists blame for the shortages.

For more information please see:

Fox News Latino – Venezuela Anti-Government Protests: Security Forces Search For Opposition Leader – 16 February 2014

Bloomberg News – Venezuela Opposition’s Lopez Says He’s Willing to Face Arrest – 16 February 2014

Reuters – ‘Chavistas’ march in Venezuela, opposition protests continue – 15 February 2014

CNN – Protests, violence continue in Venezuela – 14 February 2014

BBC – Venezuela student protest ends in deadly violence – 13 February 2014