Venezuela's Crisis Talks Stall as Protests Erupt Again

Over three months into the widespread protests in Venezuela, talks between government and opposition representatives to resolve the situation froze this week. Police then arrested another 105 people on the streets of Caracas on Wednesday as the student-led demonstrations ramped up once again.

The nationwide unrest began in earnest on February 12 — Youth Day in Venezuela — when thousands of students demonstrated in the country’s capital to demand the release of four schoolmates. They had been detained and accused of attacking the home of Táchira’s Governor, Vielma Mora, a few days earlier.

The students also protested the general lack of safety that students have felt at universities across Venezuela. Just a week earlier, a delinquent had attempted to rape a young woman at the University of the Andes in San Cristóbal — making security concerns another major factor in the uprisings. That initial round of demonstrations left three demonstrators dead: Juan Montoya, Bassil Da Costa, and Robert Redman.

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Three months since this first major round of protests erupted, the death count in Venezuela has reached 44 deaths and close to 3,000 arrests, according to data from the human rights organization Venezuelan Penal Forum. There are also political prisoners, like Leopoldo López, the leader of the opposition party Voluntad Popular, who has been incarcerated since February 18 and is still awaiting trial. The mayors of San Cristóbal and San Diego (in Carabobo) have been replaced and are currently in custody, facing various charges of contempt, civil rebellion, and criminal association. According to Rodríguez Torres, the Minister of Interior, the mayors stopped complying with the obligations “that are imposed upon them by the law and the constitution,” and instead facilitated and supported “all of the irrational violence that has been provoked” in their municipalities.

María Corina Machado, a leading opposition politician, was also removed from her position as deputy of the National Assembly. “Due to her actions and performance she is no longer deputy,” said Diosdado Cabello, president of the assembly. Cabello had petitioned the Public Prosecutor to investigate her for “committing the crime of high treason.” Two days later, on March 24, she was removed from her seat.

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Members of the government and the opposition sat down at the Miraflores Palace to discuss ideas and try to solve the conflict on April 10. On Monday, just over a month later, Ramón Guillermo Avelado, a representative of the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition, said at a press conference that “the dialogue is stalled,” and that the process is facing a crisis, “thanks to the National Government.”

Avelado alleged that: “The government is not willing to assume the consequences of the discussions.” He added that the government has committed irregularities like creating a second “truth commission” to run parallel to the one that is already in place to investigate deaths during the protests. Avelado said that this second body was chosen by congressional majority, is overwhelmingly Chavist, and Cabello — the president of the assembly himself — is its primary figurehead. “He cannot be president of a commission that is supposed to investigate him as well,” Avelado stated. “Cabello and all of the people that are involved should be investigated to uncover what happened.”

According to the Venezuelan polling agency Hinterlaces, 90 percent of Venezuelans support the dialogue, but there is also overwhelming skepticism. “I believe it is a front, a screen that the government is using to appear to be democratic. They sat the opposition down at a round table and, meanwhile, continue to fire tear gas and repress the youth,” a woman known only as C told VICE News.

C chose to remain anonymous due to the dangers of being an opposition supporter in her 23 de Enero barrio — a hub of Chavism. She forms part of the 19 percent who, according to Hinterlaces, does not feel that the dialogue will contribute in the slightest despite seeing it in a positive light.

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“The government has become very weakened, it does not have any strength. This process is leaving it without popular support,” an opposition politician who preferred to not reveal his name, told VICE News. He believes that this process has “leaves the country without opposition. There is no visible leader. López is incarcerated, Henrique Capriles [the governor of Miranda state and a former presidential candidate] has lost his importance, and the people don’t believe in the Democratic Unity Roundtable.”

In the streets, the loss of an official opposition voice is also apparent: “I am not a Chavist, but I don’t believe in Maduro. Chávez would not have let us go hungry, or wait in lines. He would have resolved this situation better,” Leydis, a woman from Catia area of Caracas, told VICE News. The decline of the opposition’s credibility is also clear. “They sat down to talk, and they sold us out. The students don’t deserve this, we must go out and fight for the country, the fight is in the streets,” Mónica, from the upscale neighborhood of El Cafetal, explained to VICE News. There are also people who have suffered from the daily confrontations between the government forces and demonstrators. Suhelis Tejero, a reporter and Chacao resident, told VICE News: “In the beginning it was a protest, now it is just vandalism. It is affecting people’s daily lives, and not the ones who are in power.”

According to El Universal journalist Thábata Molina there were 123 bodies admitted to the Bello Monte morgue in Caracas during the first ten days of May.

Durante los 10 primeros días de mayo fueron ingresados 123 cadáveres a la morgue de Bello Monte.

— Thabata Molina (@Thabatica)May 10, 2014

In Venezuelan daily life, the motives for protest vary, but they include concerns over safety, food, and money. The shortage of basic goods stands at nearly 30 percent. The food scarcity includes essentials such as corn oil, butter, and cornmeal — vital in making arepas, a staple Venezuelan bread. A dependency on importing these products, as well as general uncertainty, has caused hoarding.

There’s also the huge debt between private businesses and foreign providers that has decreased production. Then there has been close to an annual 60 percent rise in inflation, which counteracted the recent increase in minimum wage. Venezuelans have many reasons to protest.