Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 23 May 2017

Lawmaker: Hugo Chavez’s childhood home burned by protesters

FABIOLA SANCHEZ terrorism.”
HANNAH DREIER Meanwhile, a retired
Associated Press army general opposed to
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Maduro denounced what
— Protesters set late Presi- he said are plans by the
dent Hugo Chavez’s child- military in the central state
hood home in western of Lara to deploy snipers to
Venezuela on fire Monday, control protests that turn
an opposition lawmaker violent.
said, as protests against The plans were discussed
the South American na- in a month-old conversa-
tion’s socialist government tion among top generals in
grew increasingly hostile. the state secretly recorded
While demonstrators are by one of the participants,
decrying current President according to retired Gen.
Nicolas Maduro for the Cliver Cordones, who on
country’s triple-digit infla- Monday sent a petition
tion, rising crime and short- to Chief Prosecutor Luisa
ages of food and medi- Ortega asking her to inves-
cine, they have also de- tigate the matter.
stroyed at least five statues Cordones, who broke with
commemorating Chavez, Maduro more than a year
Maduro’s mentor and the ago, said he obtained the
founder of Venezuela’s recording and written tran-
“Bolivarian revolution.” script of the conversation
Demonstrators lit the house A woman confronts a line of police officers in riot gear during an anti-government protest in Ca- in a pen drive left in an
in the city of Barinas where racas, Venezuela, Monday, May 22, 2017. At least 46 people have died during the two-month unmarked envelope at his
Chavez spent his early anti-government protest movement. Associated Press residence.
years aflame Monday af- In it, a man identified as
ternoon along with several Gen. Jose Rafael Torre-
government buildings, in- alba, the top military offi-
cluding the regional office the Council of the Ameri- or wearing gas masks put with gasoline and set on cial in the state, discusses
of the National Electoral cas. down barbed wire at road- fire at a protest in Caracas the need to start selecting
Council, said Pedro Luis The street clashes engulfing blocks every few blocks a day earlier. Videos cir- soldiers with proven psy-
Castillo, a legislator who Venezuela appear to be and menacingly asked by- culating on social media chological and technical
represents the area. turning increasingly violent, standers for contributions show a man covered in strength for use as sharp-
The burnings capped a vio- with both security forces to their “Resistance” move- flames fleeing a small mob. shooters. The context of
lent day in Barinas — known and youth protesters look- ment. Maduro said he was being the conversation is what
as the cradle of Chavez’s ing more unruly. Opposition leaders are treated. the officer says is the in-
revolution — during which Residents of Caracas urging restraint from their It’s not clear what trig- creasing use of firearms by
protesters clashed with awoke to several smol- followers, but say secu- gered the attack, which protesters to shoot at secu-
national guardsmen, busi- dering barricades made rity forces and pro-gov- is under investigation, al- rity forces.
nesses were shuttered and of trash and torn-down ernment militias — not the though some eyewitnesses “The time will come in
roads were blocked with street signs. Access to the protesters — are behind told local media that Zara- which we’ll have to deploy
fire-filled barricades. capital’s downtown was the vast number of deadly goza was caught robbing them, and I want us to be
Nineteen-year-old Yor- blocked at several points attacks. demonstrators who had ready for that moment,”
man Bervecia was shot by heavily armed security Maduro accused protest- gathered by the tens of the man identified as Tor-
and killed during a pro- forces looking to prevent ers Sunday of setting fire to thousands to protest Mad- realba says.
test, according to the na- a march to the Health Min- a government supporter, uro’s rule. “The president won’t just
tion’s chief prosecutor. His istry to demand Maduro saying what he calls “Nazi- “In Venezuela there’s rising stay in his green phase
death brings to at least 49 open a so-called humani- fascist” elements are tak- a counterrevolution of Na- gentlemen,” he adds, re-
the number killed in nearly tarian corridor for the deliv- ing root inside the opposi- zi-fascist influence that that ferring to the first stage of a
two months of anti-gov- ery of medicine and food tion’s ranks and contribut- has infected the emotions military plan to control the
ernment protests demand- aid. ing to a dangerous spiral of and thinking of thousands protests announced last
ing new elections. On the outskirts of Caracas, violence in the two-month of compatriots, who be- month by Maduro.
“It is pretty symbolic that where reports of nighttime anti-government protest lieve they have the right to While some can be heard
the citizens are venting protests and looting have movement. pursue others for the simple voicing support for the
their frustrations on the become more frequent, Maduro said that 21-year- crime of being Venezuelan idea, at least one expresses
author of the Bolivarian the situation was even old Orlando Zaragoza suf- or Chavista or revolution- concern that such plans, if
revolution,” said Eric Farn- more tense: Young men fered burns to almost all his ary,” Maduro said in his acted on, could land com-
sworth, vice president of with their faces covered body when he was doused weekly TV program. “This is manding officers in jail.q