Masked Men Shoot Into Pro-Democracy Venezuela Rally

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Masked Men Shoot Into Pro-Democracy Venezuela Rally

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This is the future of Venezuela. The blood will flow

This is the Chavez secret police at work

[q
url="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/299685.html"]The
march itself, attended by an estimated 80,000, passed peacefully, and
student leaders were received by Supreme Court President Luisa Estela
Morales.

But by mid-afternoon there were scenes of chaos at the university --
known as the UCV, its acronym in Spanish -- as groups of men, many of
them hooded, fired guns, set off tear-gas grenades and hurled stones.

University authorities and various media reports said the violence
appeared to have been the work of Chávez supporters, who had previously
threatened dire consequences if opposition students and the private
media -- whom they described as ''fascists'' -- continued to
''destabilize'' the country.

At a rally Sunday, the president himself threatened the students,
whom he called ''rich kids.'' If he and his supporters responded in
kind, Chávez said, ``there wouldn't be a building standing belonging to
this unpatriotic oligarchy.''

In a brief statement broadcast on Venezuelan radio and television
Wednesday night, Interior Minister Pedro Carreño blamed the students.

Dressed in the red shirt of the president's Unified Socialist Party
of Venezuela, Carreño said the students had returned ''disappointed''
from a march in which they ''thought they would set the country on
fire'' and had attacked a group of pro-Chávez students.

More than 100 people had been confined to the social work faculty
building, ''on the point of being lynched'' by the anti-Chávez
students, the minister said. He called on the opposition to ''return to
the democratic fold.'' His remarks were greeted by widespread banging
of pots and pans in some parts of the capital.

The National Guard troops gathered outside the university but had not intervened as of Wednesday night.

Higher Education Minister Luis Acuña told state-controlled
television that the authorities were willing to put a stop to the
violence if the UCV's authorities requested it. Venezuelan law bars
state security forces from entering the campus unless university
authorities request it.

Some South Florida Venezuelans grimly predicted that the campus clash was just the beginning.

''The violence is part of Chávez's efforts to repress and scare the
Venezuelans, because through it he's letting everyone know what is to
come,'' said Patricia Andrade, head of the Miami-based human rights
organization Venezuelan Awareness Foundation. ``What is coming is very,
very serious.''

The shootings, Andrade said, were part of a strategy by Chávez to
exert more control over universities, which serve as a strong base for
the opposition.

''The government is creating chaos in the universities so that they
will have an excuse to invade them,'' Andrade said. ``Wars are begun by
the ones with the weapons, and the students don't have weapons -- all
they have is book bags.''

The mood had become increasingly tense since Venezuela's legislature
-- almost unanimously -- gave final approval last week to a sweeping
package of extensive constitutional changes that include the indefinite
reelection of presidents, the establishment of socialism as Venezuela's
official ideology and a reduction of the working day to six hours.

Outbursts have occurred elsewhere.

Last week, clashes erupted after a student march to the headquarters
of the electoral authority. But most incidents in recent days have
involved universities in the interior, ranging from Zulia, Táchira and
Mérida states in the west to Lara and Carabobo states in the center of
the country.

Dozens of students have been injured, including several who have
suffered gunshot wounds and many hurt by birdshot fired by the national
guard.

A journalism student was shot dead at the University of Zulia in an
incident that has yet to be clarified, and which the government has
said is unconnected to national student protests.

The protesters have called for a suspension of the referendum,
charging that amendments would weaken civil liberties in one of South
America's oldest democracies and give Chávez unprecedented power to
declare states of emergency, the Associated Press reported. Students
also have argued that the electorate still does not know what it will
be voting on, not least because the Assembly made dozens of last-minute
additions.

''Don't allow Venezuela to go down a path that nobody wants to
cross,'' student leader Freddy Guevara told Globovisión, according to
AP.

Chávez, who was first elected in 1998, has brushed off criticism and
denied that the reforms threaten freedom. He has said the changes would
move Venezuela closer to what he calls ``21st century socialism.''

[/q]

[q
url="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2827270.ece"]The
students were returning from a rally at the Supreme Court

CARACAS A supporter of President Chávez points a pistol at
opposition supporters during clashes at the Central University in
Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

At least two people were wounded when masked gunmen fired on
students returning from a protest against President Chávez. General
Antonio Rivero, who heads the civil protection agency, said that one
person died and six others were injured in the attack at the university
campus. But a university official denied that anyone was killed.

General Rivero said that it was unclear who the attackers were,
although opposition members have in the past accused the President’s
supporters of intimidating pro-democracy demonstrators. The students
were returning from a rally at the Supreme Court, where 80,000 people
denounced attempts by President Chávez to extend his term limits as he
seeks to impose “economic socialism”. The amended Constitution would
also give him the power to suspend press freedoms during a state of
emergency.

“Armed groups started firing at students, who were returning from
the peaceful demonstration,” said Jorge Pabon, Dean of the law faculty,
adding that the attackers had set a bus alight and fired teargas.
(AFP)[/q]