Angry Venezuelan protesters take aim at Chavez statues
Anti-government protesters in Venezuela have settled on a new target for their frustration: Hugo Chavez.
Until recently, even as the economy cratered and Venezuelans abandoned support for President Nicolas Maduro, many in the socialist-run country continued to revere Chavez for standing up for the oil-rich nation’s long-overlooked poor masses.
But that once solid reputation has begun to crumble as quickly as statues and monuments built to the late strongman have been toppled. As anti-government unrest has spread, claiming at least 53 lives and leaving hundreds injured, protesters have ripped from their pedestals statues honouring Chavez in at least five towns over the past month. The latest incident took place Monday when a protest in the western city of Barinas turned violent and demonstrators torched a home where Chavez spent part of his childhood, opposition politicians in the city said.
During a day of violence in the city, in which at least five
men were killed and 50 injured, it was unclear how the incident began or the extent of damage to the house — one of several, and hardly the best known — where a young Chavez lived during an itinerant upbringing marked by poverty.
But the symbolism was nonetheless deeply felt by protesters and government supporters alike.
Since Chavez died in 2013, Maduro has tried to cement his grip on power by constantly invoking his political mentor. New statues depicting
a youthful Chavez have been built around the country. His penetrating eyes and iconic signature are emblazoned on hundreds of public buildings. And even anti-government demonstrators frequently couch their criticism of Maduro by citing El Comandante’s old speeches to argue he has strayed from Chavez’s revolutionary road map. Yet in town plazas around the country, Venezuelans no longer appear to view Chavez’s legacy as justification for the current government.