Long pro-government, poorer Venezuelans joining protests
CARACAS, Venezuela — As Venezuela’s bloody, volatile month-old protest movement hardens into a prolonged standoff between demonstrators and the government, the loyalties of poorer Venezuelans have become a swing factor in determining how President Nicolas Maduro will fare.
The thousands of demonstrators pouring into the streets in recent weeks are mostly middle class, angered by Venezuela’s economic collapse and the government’s increasingly authoritarian rule. But Venezuelans from longtime “Chavista” strongholds — areas where people overwhelmingly favored Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez — are starting to join them, at considerable risk.
Irene Castillo, 26, who lives in El Guarataro, a neighborhood not far from the presidential palace, voted for Maduro in 2013 when Chavez died after 14 years in power. But no one on Castillo’s block supports the government anymore, she said.
“Now, those who remain Chavistas are just the radicals,” she said.
Residents of Castillo’s neighborhood protested openly against Maduro for the first time last week.
Pro-government block captains in neighborhoods like El Guarataro have responded by threatening to deny food rations to those who march with the opposition or fail to join pro-Maduro rallies. Militia groups armed by the government known as colectivos are deployed to intimidate wouldbe defectors and are suspected in the deaths of several protesters.
As the confrontation escalates, many other destitute Venezuelans remain on the sidelines, disillusioned with Maduro but unpersuaded by his opponents or too busy looking for food to join a march.
Aside from a military revolt, Maduro’s government faces the key threat of a rebellion spreading through the neighborhoods that long backed Chavez. And there are signs it’s already happening.
On several occasions this month, a pattern has emerged in which mostly middle-class Venezuelans and student activists swarm the capital’s main highway during the day, while poorer residents stage smaller protests in their neighborhoods at night, some of which have degenerated into chaos and looting.
In El Guarataro, where services such as electricity and water are frequently shut off, residents built barricades of flaming debris in the streets last week, clanging pots and pans at their windows to amplify their frustration. Riot police and national guard troops arrived, touching off clashes in a neighborhood that has long been a solid-red bastion of support for the government.
“The base of the Chavista movement has eroded, and the situation is growing more explosive,” said Margarita Lopez Maya, a political analyst in Caracas. “There’s no bread, but the government continues to insist it has the majority of Venezuelans on its side, so it looks increasingly dissociated from the reality of people’s lives.”
Maduro has called on supporters to march through Caracas on Monday, International Workers’ Day, in a show of strength. He depicts his opponents as terrorists who are trying to sow chaos to prepare the ground for a foreign invasion.
With the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela used to be one of Latin America’s most prosperous nations. Now it’s tormented by rampant crime, corruption and government dysfunction. A scarcity of food and basic medicine has left more and more Venezuelans suffering from empty stomachs or languishing in struggling hospitals.
The shortages have spread widely but fallen hardest on the poor.
A recent survey by the Datanalisis polling firm found 88 percent of Venezuelans are unhappy with the government.
Democratic Unity activists only recently began making inroads in Caracas’ poorest districts, said Datanalisis Director Luis Vicente Leon, because it remains dangerous for them to attempt ordinary grass-roots political work such as knocking on doors or staging rallies.
But, Leon said, there are clearly more poor Venezuelans at opposition protests now than there were in 2014, when the government last faced a major rebellion, months of clashes in which more than 40 people were killed.
The political violence this month has left 29 dead, including Venezuelans apparently slain during looting.