With one murder occurring every 21 minutes, Venezuela is one of the most violent places on Earth. Crimes are so prevalent that the government no longer publishes crime data. This month marks the one year anniversary of the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and people are mourning on the streets. These same streets also hold the chaos of thousands of protesters.
Vice President Nicolás Maduro won the subsequent election after Chávez’s death, beating candidate Henrique Capriles by a marginal one percent. It all started with that one percent. Just eleven months in, Maduro was confronted with the largest protest he has ever faced. On February 12 2014, students flooded the streets in protest. Demonstrations caught global attention that day, with the death of three people and many more injured.
What is all the riot about? Since taking over for Hugo Chávez, Maduro has lead the country into the ground. This includes an astounding increase in the inflation rate, as high as 56 percent, and a 50 percent increase in the budget deficit, resulting in China cutting back on its $20 billion loan. The Venezuelan bolívar has dropped from an 8 to 1 exchange rate with the US dollar to a shocking 87 to 1. Unemployment has been rising with salaries decreasing. Maduro has also called for more state intervention. This makes things harder for the private sector, making it nearly impossible for Venezuelans to get food and other basic necessities. The hardships of the economy is one of the grievances of the protesters, along with the demand for a more democratic government, a decrease in violent crime and an end to human rights violations.
As a result, groups of young adults swarmed the streets to peacefully protest the poor governing of Maduro. Things took a turn for the worse when state police tried to corral them. It resulted in many injuries and the deaths of three protesters by shots to the head. Since then more have died in the crisis and many more people have come out to continue to protest Maduro’s government and the repulsive treatment of the Venezuelan people, including those that were killed during the demonstrations.
To make matters worse Venezuelan officials began to blame external elements for the unrest in their country. Pointing a finger at the United States, Maduro states the Americans are trying to destabilize the Venezuelan administration. Maduro and his supporters say the protests against his socialist government are part of an attempted coup backed by right-wing “fascist” opponents in Venezuela and abroad in America. Venezuela gave three U.S. diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, accusing them of conspiring to bring down the government. United States president Barack Obama was not amused, and replied, “Venezuela, rather than trying to distract from its own failings by making up false accusations against diplomats from the United States, the government ought to focus on addressing the legitimate grievances of the Venezuelan people.” In response to the expulsion of the three U.S. diplomats, the United States expelled three Venezuelan diplomats.
Maduro has also announced the severing of political and diplomatic ties and freezing trade relations with Panama. He accuses Panama of being a “lackey” for the United States in a conspiracy plot against his government. Panama’s president Ricardo Martinelli was surprised by Venezuela’s decision, “Panama only longs for peace, and for its brother country to find peace and strengthen its democracy.” They have also denied Maduro’s accusations saying that they had tried to encourage action by the Organization of American States to help promote democracy and human rights in Venezuela.
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