The families of Jesus Acosta and Guillermo Sanchez (killed in Valencia yesterday) have gone on the record as saying that Governor Ameliach lied when he asserted through Twitter last night that the two men had been killed by sniper fire. The family members who spoke said that those responsible for the deaths were members of colectivos armados from the area. Jesus’s mother, Jessica Matute, said:
The motorizados [colectivo] were shooting [weapons] down the avenue like crazy, when suddenly they started to go down streets and side streets shooting in the direction of homes without caring that there were children and families in those homes, when one of those bullets reached my son and killed him.
…
My son didn’t fight with anyone, he went from the university back home and from home to the university, or to his girlfriend’s house. He didn’t like to drink, he didn’t smoke, and he didn’t really like parties. He just studied and worked from time to time as a taxi driver when he didn’t have class. They ended his life when he had so many dreams ahead of him, just because those motorizados felt like it. My son was not a thug and he was not involved with the guarimbas.
Guillermo Sanchez – who was a father of three – was painting his parent’s house when he went across the street to his own home to find a brush. While crossing the street, a colectivo drove by. His neighbours witnessed the shooting, and said, “he surrendered to them and he even raised his shirt to show them that he was not armed, but nothing worked.”
Guillermo’s wife, Gina Rodriguez, said:
My husband was killed by the colectivos armados, not by a sniper. That is a lie.
Maduro is using the disturbances to put the heat on some opposition mayors. Today, the mayor of Baruta – Gerardo Blyde – was accused by the Supreme Court of helping to close streets (with barricades), failing to collect garbage as scheduled, failing to prevent damage to his municipality and failing to remove the barricades. The mayors of Chacao, Sucre, El Hatillo (Ramon Muchacho, Carlos Ocariz and David Smolansky, respectively) and Henrique Capriles (Governor of Miranda) also have pending action against them, although it’s not clear what the accusations are at this time.
Also today, CONATEL (Comision Nacional de Telecomunicaciones – National Telecommunication Commission) apparently ordered all Venezuelan ISPs to “comply with the order to block web pages with content contrary to the interests of the government”. The source for this comes from the newspaper El Pais, which claims that it has a document from the head of the telecommunications division at CONATEL, Harris Viafra, in which he gave the ISPs the news yesterday in a meeting. According to the article, this stems from the government’s desire to block internet access to websites that give the non-official U.S. dollar exchange value.
Six people were arrested in El Trigal today as a result of the order Maduro gave last night to break and enter into homes in that area of Valencia. Today, Maduro said:
[The National Guard] took all of El Trigal in Valencia and we have gone ahead to allanar break and enter into] all of the places where there were bandits hiding, and six of them have been arrested.
…
[The National Guard found] weapons, C4, bombs and we will continue with the allanamientos and we have liberated from violence all of the sectors of El Trigal, where there were paramilitary units of Pablo Aure [Secretary of the Universidad de Carabobo] and of the right-wing in Valencia. The country needs to know this.
And finally, two quick videos:
This one claims to be from La Isabelica in Valencia. The video shows a colectivo armado riding into an intersection. One of the riders gets off his bike and discharges his firearm at the end of the clip (he’s wearing a motorcycle helmet):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwhWDkvGf3o
This video shows a National Guard soldier setting fire to a barricade for some reason in Barquisimeto. The man recording is saying, “That’s the National Guard burning [things]! This is so that everyone can know that it’s the National Guard burning things!”:
In Venezuela 