Tensions boil over in Venezuela in president’s absence

[Bacchus4.0]

Source: AP

CARACAS, Venezuela — A high-profile opposition leader is calling for protests while President Nicolas Maduro is abroad seeking help for the financially struggling country.

Tensions have mounted in recent days as the South American country’s government deployed troops and implemented a rationing system to control lines for groceries.

Henrique Capriles, who nearly defeated Maduro in the 2013 presidential election, said Monday that the country was in a state of emergency, and it was time for public demonstrations.

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Maduro has been out of the country for more than a week, visiting China and members of the oil cartel OPEC to push for a cut in output. Oil prices have fallen by more than half since June, battering Venezuela’s economy.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/tensions-boil-over-in-venezuela-in-presidents-absence/2015/01/13/26052fac-9b3b-11e4-86a3-1b56f64925f6_story.html

[staggerleem]

1. Venezuelans were SO much better off under Hugo Chavez.

Of course, he was a self-proclaimed Socialist, so naturally, no matter how his people may have felt about him, the US had to oppose him.

[Bacchus4.0]

2. Arrests, banning photographs of long lines, humiliation, rationing

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-shortages-long-queues-spark-violence-arrests-165203509--sector.html



Venezuelans show their number written on their arm for their place to enter the market. Notice they are turning their faces so they can't be identified.

CARACAS/ SAN CRISTOBAL (Reuters) - At least a dozen protesters arrested in Venezuela remained in jail on Monday and masked assailants burned a bus amid scattered unrest over swelling lines for basic goods, activists said.

Police rounded up 16 people for protesting outside stores over the weekend, according to the opposition MUD coalition, which said four of them were released shortly after.

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Venezuela is suffering from chronic shortages of goods ranging from diapers to flour that have worsened since an ebb in deliveries over Christmas. The scarcity has forced shoppers across Venezuela to line up in front of stores before dawn.

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State-run supermarkets have started restricting access based on identity cards. Only Venezuelans whose card number ends in 0 or 1 were allowed to shop on Monday, local media reported.

[COLGATE4]

3. Venezuelans were "better off" under Chavez because of the

windfall prices of over $100 per barrel of oil which generated so much slush that the country could sustain Chavez and his colleagues robbing the country blind and it wouldn't be much noticed. Now, with oil at $50 a barrel, DimSuccessor doesn't have the prayer of a snowball in hell with an economy which has been destroyed over 15 years of Chavismo.