The disturbance in Los Ruices yesterday resulted in the arrest of three local residents. This same article confirms the casualties from the confrontation there to one National Guard soldier killed and one colectivo member killed.
The article breaks down the events in Los Ruices this way:
– A colectivo turned up in the area of Los Ruices with the intent of removing barricades in the area.
– “Neighbours” in the area resisted the colectivo’s attempt to remove their barricades.
– The colectivo became violent, at which time they torched a car (pictured and filmed in my previous post) and they began to attempt to, and eventually succeed in, entering “some buildings”
The National Guard soldier killed was Sergeant Second Class Acner Issac Lopez Leon. The colectivo member was called Jose Gregorio Amaris Castillo.
Diosdado Cabello announced the deaths in this way: “There were to men killed, a motorizado who was picking up rubble and a National Guard who was also picking up rubble, both with shots to the head. They were shot from the buildings. Snipers, the same as in 2002 [referring to the April 2002 coup]… they [the colectivo] just pick up garbage”.
It’s important to note that the autopsies have not yet been conducted (I believe they’re being conducted today), and I’ve already read reports from the scene that the National Guard soldier was actually shot in the back, not the head. What I’m saying is, until/if the autopsy results are revealed, we don’t know exactly where these men were shot.
The article goes on to clarify that the colectivo in Los Ruices numbered approximately 500 individuals, and that they succeeded in torching a car and breaking into apartment buildings, and that neither the National Guard nor the National Bolivarian police attempted to stop them.
The article quotes a colectivo member as saying, “If in one hour they’re [The National Guard/Police] are not here, we’re going in [to the buildings] ourselves”, and another as saying, “To go to war we need only hear one voice, that of the Comandante [Chavez]… We are disciples of the love of Christ”.
A woman was arrested inside an apartment in a building called “Irene de Los Cortijos”. A twenty year old man was arrested inside the Los Cortijos subway station. The man is 20 years old, and his father says that the National Guard came up to them, beat his son and arrested him without reason.
The opposition is pretty adamant that Maduro’s call the other day for people to go out onto the streets to “put out fires” is responsible for what happened in Los Ruices last night. The executive secretary of the Mesa de la Unidad Democratica (the opposition) said yesterday that Maduro’s call might “sow the seeds for civil war” by pitting civilian against civilian. The general consensus on the opposition side seems to be that by calling out what have effectively become paramilitary and parapolice groups to deal with the demonstrations (as opposed to relying on what are supposed to be official, trained state resources, such as the National Guard and the National Bolivarian Police), the government is escalating the situation and pretty much guaranteeing more deaths.
Here are a couple of videos from Los Ruices yesterday:
National Bolivarian Police pistol whipping and beating a man with batons and a baseball bat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAxWUFU6-0
A colectivo armado breaking into an apartment building.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNSLLNq2LXw
And here are some other videos showing other disturbances:
Guard in action in Chacao on March 5. They can be seen firing their weapons freely.
National Guard truck playing bumper cars with parked vehicles in Chacao on March 5.
Confrontation between protesters manning a barricade and what appears to be a small pro-government (or anti-barricade) group in La Boyera, Caracas. Published on March 5th.
In Venezuela 