Protests march on in Caracas
Using donated gas masks and wooden shields, activists improvise their combat gear
CARACAS, VENEZUELA— After six hardfought weeks in the streets, the standoff between anti-government protesters and security forces is growing scarier and more lethal.
To protect themselves, demonstrators here in the capital and in other cities have started outfitting themselves in homemade armour and other improvised combat gear.
Along with conventional gas masks and helmets (many of them donated), wooden shields are showing up on the front lines of the battles with National Guard troops. While most of the protesters have remained nonviolent, there are also hooded militants tossing Molotov cocktails and launching rocks with slingshots.
The security forces, meanwhile, appear increasingly determined to choke the protest movement with brute force, including the use of copi- ous amounts of tear gas. Several protesters have been killed or severely injured by gas canisters fired into crowds or allegedly dropped out of government helicopters. Last week, a young man was injured when he was run over by an armoured police vehicle that plowed through a melee.
In all, at least 37 people have died in the unrest and more than 700 have been injured. The growing toll — along with fears of worse violence to come — has prompted Venezuelans living outside the country to start raising money for shipments of safety equipment.
“The idea is to protect as many heads as we can,” said Nelly Guinand, 25, a Venezuelan living in New York who collected more than $22,000 and sent 128 motorcycle helmets to Caracas, with more on the way. She calls the fund drive “Cascos contra Bombas” (Helmets vs. Bombs).
Guinand, a fashion designer, said her cousin Andrés Guinand suffered a skull fracture when he was hit in the head with a tear-gas canister last month during a Caracas protest. “This is the third time that someone in my family gets hurt while protesting,” said Nelly, who started the campaign with 15 women living in Venezuela and the United States.
Guinand is part of a widening international campaign to crowdfund the protests, with some online drives raising more than $24,000 in less than a month. As many as 17 campaigns to solicit money for food, medicine and protest gear like protective goggles, heavy gloves and gas masks can be found on GoFundMe.