From Huffington Post, via EFerrari:
President Maduro Is Calling for Peace and Dialogue - It's Opposition Extremists That Want Violence
Posted: 10/03/2014 12:01
The narrative being pushed by politicians from the right-wing opposition coalition that this is a popular rising against a failing government omits some basic facts.
Firstly, the current protests are highly unpopular. A poll conducted by the Venezuelan company ICS shows 86 per cent of Venezuelans disagree with the violent protests. Secondly, it is estimated that fewer than 2000 people out of 30 million are taking part in the violent protests". Thirdly, the government won a national set of elections just two months ago with a margin of 10%. The right-wing opposition coalition had labelled those elections a referendum on the government.
This meant a total of four electoral defeats for the opposition in the past 18 months, two of which have been under President Maduro. Following yet another electoral defeat, minority elements in the opposition coalition appears to have lost patience, having initially thought that, with the death of Hugo Chavez, they would soon sweep back into office.
This triggered a switch of tactics with extreme right-wing leaders of the opposition, Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado, declaring a strategy for the ousting - "La Salida"- of President Maduro and his government. They are explicit that their aim is regime change which will come about by "getting the people into the streets".
The subsequent wave of violence has left 20 dead and 260 injured so far. The stepping up of opposition violence unleashed on 12 February clearly appears pre-planned. A leaked recording of Ivan Carratu Molina, a former Vice Admiral and Fernando Gerbasi, former Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia discusses how events the next day would be "very similar to April 11th (2002 coup)".
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/alvaro-sanchez/venezuela-protests-maduro_b_4912155.html
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