Meeting between Venezuela government, opposition may help ease protests
February 23, 2014|Brian Ellsworth | Reuters
Supporters
of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez riot against police during a
protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas . (Carlos Garcia
Rawlins, REUTERS)
CARACAS (Reuters) - A meeting between a top Venezuelan opposition
leader and President Nicolas Maduro on Monday may help ease nearly two
weeks of violent anti-government protests that have killed at least
eight people.
State governor Henrique Capriles will meet Maduro
at a routine gathering of governors and mayors and will likely get a
chance to present the opposition's grievances.
The daily unrest has sharpened the bitter divide between critics and
supporters of the ruling Socialist Party, although even Maduro's rivals
appear to be growing weary of blocked streets and constant clashes
between students and police.
"Dialogue is not about listening to
what the government wants to say, it's about making sure the
demonstrators' voices are heard," Capriles, a two-time opposition
presidential candidate, wrote on Sunday in his weekly column.
Five people have died from gunshot wounds in the unrest that began on
February 12 with the death of a student protestor and was later fueled
by the arrest of hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
A
23-year-old female student died on Saturday after being shot in the face
with rubber bullets, while others have died in accidents caused by the
roadblocks.
Maduro, who has vowed to nurture the self-styled
socialist revolution he inherited from late president Hugo Chavez, calls
the demonstrations acts of terrorism by "fascists" seeking a coup
similar to the one that briefly ousted Chavez in 2002.
But he has expressed willingness to meet Capriles.
"Welcome, governor (to the meeting) ... we'll speak there," said Maduro, 51, before a rally of supporters on Saturday.
His government has freed almost all of the nearly 100 students arrested
during the recent unrest. That has been a central opposition demand, so
could encourage dialogue.
Maduro received a group of senior
citizens at the presidential palace on Sunday in one of several
government events "for peace" in recent days that have been aimed at
drawing a contrast with the opposition's protests.
The seniors, clad in red shirts, sat in the courtyard of the Miraflores palace listening to a folk music band.
The protests were initially seen as a renewal of a stagnant opposition movement, but have risked alienating moderates.
Roadblocks of burning trash and clashes between rock-throwing students
and tear-gas-lobbing troops have shown no sign of forcing Maduro from
power but have become a growing annoyance for the mostly well-to-do
neighborhoods where they take place.
"Who are you trying to
convince by blocking your own street if your neighbors are already on
your side?" Capriles said on Saturday at an opposition rally.
"Bravery is not throwing the most stones or talking the loudest, it is using ideas to change someone else's mind."
RIFLE-TOTING GENERAL
Many of Maduro's harshest critics were outraged when a young
supermarket worker died late on Friday after driving his motorcycle into
a cable stretched across a road as part of an improvised opposition
roadblock.
Maduro said opposition-linked military officer Gen. Angel Vivas
encouraged demonstrators to string up cables at roadblocks and trained
them to do so, and on Saturday ordered his arrest in connection with the
young man's death.
Demonstrators on Sunday surrounded Vivas'
house in the wealthy Caracas neighborhood of Prados del Este in response
to rumors that troops were on the way to arrest him, burning trash and
setting up barricades that blocked access to his home.
Vivas, who
according to media has in the past faced court martial for
insubordination, stood on a balcony of his house berating the Maduro
government while holding an assault rifle.
"We must remain in
resistance because we are opposing a foreign invasion, we are being
invaded by the damn state of Cuba," shouted Vivas, invoking an
opposition mantra of excessive influence of the allied Communist-run
island.
Vivas returned to his house without being detained.
Defense ministry officials did not respond to calls seeking clarification as to whether Vivas is still in active service.
The unrest over nearly two weeks have been worst at night, when clashes
between hooded students and the security forces have tended to break
out.
Most cities have returned to business as usual by day.
Residents of Caracas' poor west side have not launched many
demonstrations, though government critics there have joined traditional
protests of banging pots and pans at their windows during Maduro's
hours-long television broadcasts.
The wave of violence has
shifted attention away from economic troubles including inflation of 56
percent, slowing growth, and shortages of staple goods such as milk and
flour.
The opposition blames these problems on Chavez's economy
legacy of nationalizations, currency controls and constant confrontation
with businesses.
Maduro calls it an "economic war" led by the opposition.
The former bus driver calls himself the "son" of Chavez and has vowed
to continue the generous public spending that helped reduce poverty and
propelled the late president to repeated election victories over 14
years.
Opponents say socialism has crippled private enterprise
and weakened state institutions while spawning a nepotistic elite that
enriches itself with the country's oil wealth.
(Additional
reporting by Girish Gupta and Carlos Rawlins; Editing by Daniel Wallis,
Kieran Murray, Frances Kerry and Meredith Mazzilli)
