Lack of gasoline, will Venezuela go up in flames? For five days, residents of Yaracuy state, in the west of the country, have been demonstrating against fuel shortages. From Nirgua to San Felipe, seven municipalities have been affected by a protest movement that the opposition would like to see spread to the whole country. The groups of demonstrators were quickly dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets. According to the non-governmental organization Foro Penal (“penal forum”), thirty-two people, including two teenagers, were arrested. Thirty are still detained.
On Sunday, September 27 in Caracas, opposition leader Juan Guaido expressed his support for the Yaracuy protesters. He called on his fellow citizens to train all over the country “Commandos for freedom and for free elections”. But the opposition, very divided, does not seem able to capitalize the popular discontent.
“We can’t take it anymore”, summarizes in front of the camera of a cell phone a 50-year-old woman with drawn features. The images circulating on social networks show small groups of angry protesters and sometimes violent clashes with the police. “Soldier, listen, our fight is yours too! “, chanted people in Yaritagua. No opposition leader made an official presence in Yaracuy.
Causes of discontent worsen
An audio recording attributed to the mayor of Peña, Juan Parada, helped to heat up the spirits. We hear the chosen one calling his supporters to “Mark one by one” protesters. “You have to tell them: if you call for a demonstration, don’t come and complain if your business is ransacked or if the collectives intervene”, Mr. Parada said in substance. The “colectivos” are these groups ready to do anything to defend the Bolivarian revolution, including using their weapons. “The Chavistas are not going to stand idly by”, concludes the mayor.
In Yaracuy, as in the rest of the country, blackouts are daily. But water only arrives one day in three. Gasoline is becoming even rarer. In this immensely oil-rich country, the queues of cars standing in front of gas pumps are now part of the landscape. Even the capital, Caracas, is no longer spared by the lack of fuel. The confinement decreed in March to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic has further worsened the living conditions of a population exhausted by seven years of recession. On Sunday, incidents were also reported in San Sebastian de los Reyes, in the department of Aragua, and in Santa Maria de Ipire in Guarico.
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