2013: Following Maduro’s Election as President, 12 of His Supporters were killed by Opposition Rioters

After Nicolas Maduro was declared winner of the Presidential election on April 14,2013, the losing candidate Henrique Capriles refused to accept the result and called for his supporters to demonstrate in the streets and to “vent their anger”. [1] Riots broke out in the country on April 15 and 16. Several government health clinics were attacked after an opposition tweet claimed that electoral materials were hidden in the clinics.[2] Opposition rioters blocked traffic, set fire to tires and threw Molotov cocktails at police stations, food markets, offices of the National Electoral Council, and the headquarters of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.[3] 78 people were injured in the rioting. Eighteen buildings were damaged. [1]135 people were arrested. Thirteen people were killed during the riots: 12 Maduro supporters and one opposition rioter.

The Attorney General (Luis Ortega Diaz) gave an initial accounting of nine people killed during the riots. [3] Two children (11 and 12) were killed when a truck crashed into a Maduro victory celebration. Two Maduro supporters were shot and killed when they defended a health clinic. [2] Two people were killed after being hit by a vehicle. One person was killed after trying to defend an office of the Electoral Council. An officer in the National Police was killed. One opposition protestor died after being shot from a passing vehicle.[4]

Capriles called for a march to the Headquarters of the National Electoral Council on April 17. Maduro said he would block it due to fears of violence. Capriles called the march off.

Maduro offered condolences to the families of the victims and declared them as “martyrs of the Bolivarian revolution.” Capriles did not offer condolences to the families of those killed in the riots.

   

 

 

1.Alba Ciudad,62 Photos of damage to Health Centers, telecommunications, housing and political parties, April 21, 2013.

2.Venezuelanalysis, Venezuelan Private Media Try to Cover Up Attacks on Government Health Clinics, April 21, 2013

3.Alba Ciudad, Attorney General: Violent incidents in the country left 9 dead and 78 injured, April 24, 2013.

4.New York Times, Post-Election Tensions Escalate in Venezuela as Demonstrations Turn Deadly, April 16, 2013

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  2020:U.S. Drug Monitoring Data Show that Venezuela is not a Major Source of Illegal Drugs On March 11, 2020, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) released a Research Report authored by Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde: Beyond the Narcostate Narrative: What U.S. Drug Monitoring Data Says About Venezuela. [1] The Report concluded that: ·         “Venezuela is not a primary transit country for U.S. bound cocaine. About 90% of all    U.S.-bound cocaine is trafficked through Western Caribbean and Eastern Pacific routes, not through Venezuela’s Eastern Caribbean seas.” The Research Report relied on data from the U.S. Interagency Consolidated Counterdrug Database (CCDB), a multi-source collection of global illegal drug trafficking events that is gathered from intelligence data such as detection and surveillance as well as interdiction and law enforcement data. The authors noted that:” According to the Department of Defense ‘The ...
Read more

The Venezuela Reader - A Blog Focused on Recent History and Venezuela-U.S. Relations

Image
  The Venezuela Reader- A Blog Focused on Recent History and Venezuela-U.S. Relations My name is Leonard G.- I am The Venezuela Reader. I am a retired agricultural policy analyst living in the Washington, DC area. After retirement and when Covid closed off many activities, I began reading about US foreign policy. I was particularly intrigued by Venezuela. So, I began reading about Venezuela five years ago and haven’t stopped. Faced with mountains of paper, I took it on myself to summarize events in Venezuela’s history and in its relations with the US. I challenged myself to write one-page summaries which are factually accurate and documented with outside sources -newspaper articles, academic articles, government reports. I have already drafted over 200 one-page summaries covering events and milestones including elections, riots, court rulings, US sanctions, oil policies, social policies, food and agriculture, racism, drug trafficking, important reports, and biographies. I am...
Read more
Image
  2025:Former United Nations Drug Official Calls Venezuelan Narco-State Narrative a Great Hoax   Pino Arlacchii was the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) from 1997 to 2002. He recently wrote an article about the U.S. declaration that Venezuela is a “narco-state.” [1] His article was translated into English and released by Venezuelanalysis. [2] Here are excerpts from his article:[2]   Pino Arlacchi : The Great Hoax Against Venezuela: Oil Geopolitics Disguised as “War on Drugs” ·        “During my time as head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), I frequently travelled to Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, but never to Venezuela. There was simply no need. ·        “The Venezuelan government’s collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking was among the best in South America, rivalled only by Cuba’s impeccable record. This makes Trump’s nar...
Read more