Resistance and Repression in Venezuela Our World


Resistance and Repression in Venezuela

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is using torture and imprisonment without trial against those

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who oppose it - a claim the government denies.

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Protests have been held against a vote to elect an assembly

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to change the constitution, which opposition parties say

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could create a dictatorship.

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For Our World, Vladimir Hernandez reports from Caracas.

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His film includes images and descriptions of violence.

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Welcome to Venezuela.

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Once the richest jewel in Latin America, it is now

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a country drowning in political and economic chaos.

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A state with the largest oil reserves in the world is now

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so impoverished that it cannot feed its own people.

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TRANSLATION: Even if I die, it's worth it.

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How long is this going to go on for?

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We are a hungry country.

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As his people rage, President Nicolas Maduro's grip

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on power has grown increasingly desperate.

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All opposition is being systematically crushed.

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It is feared a new constitution will extinguish democracy

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and establish a dictatorship.

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As the battle for Venezuelan democracy reaches boiling point,

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the BBC has heard disturbing allegations of state

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torture against demonstrators.

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Several officers there are told us,

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"We are going to give you the shock treatment."

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For Venezuelans, long accustomed to economic hardship,

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the assault on their democracy is proving the final straw.

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I have been to Caracas, to meet resistance to the reforms

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of Nicolas Maduro and find out what future lies in store

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for this troubled country.

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If you want to find out who is behind a demonstration,

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head to a university.

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This is Uceve, the largest university in Venezuela.

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I was a student here myself.

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In my day, we were protesting against a rise in the bus fare.

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Today, it is a rather more desperate story.

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In a quiet room on the campus, I meet four young protesters.

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They have disguised their identities and we have changed their voices

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to protect them.

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The way I see it, the resistance is everybody who is against a regime.

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Many people see it as a dictatorship.

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At the moment, they are even trying

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to change our constitution.

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I think the resistance is those people who come out to protest

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and are willing to take the lead to confront the police

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or the national guard.

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It's not like there is this little group of resistance over here,

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and a group of normal people over there.

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No.

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We are all the resistance, and we are all against

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what is happening.

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Some have labelled us as terrorists, but I think that all of us youth

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who make up the resistance are brave fighters, defending our people

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from the government's brutal repression.

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The students are known as escuderos, or shield bearers.

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Young men and women like them see their role in the resistance

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as protecting the ordinary people who demonstrate every day

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from the national guard.

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We are going to meet a resistance group at Las Mercedes,

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and then we moved to the place where it normally kicks off.

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Every protest march is accompanied by the escuderos and when the people

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move into stop the march, the escuderos will move

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in and confront them.

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They never allow us to make it as far as where the march is meant

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to end - they use the excuse that we will destroy the whole city.

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Our role is also to secure ground.

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Because just as the police and national guard are trying

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to push us back, we also have to seize our chances to advance.

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My job is to pick up any falling helmets or gloves,

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to retrieve them and give them back to the boys,

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or to be looking out for them, or collecting

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the stones, or whatever.

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It is not just a matter of marching forward and that's it.

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It's really about everyone's duty.

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There is a naivete about some of their actions, but it is clear

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that they are brave.

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Most of the dozens who have died in this wave of protest are those

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at the front.

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But there is a little resentment that they have been allotted this

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role in Venezuela's struggle for democracy at such a young age.

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It shouldn't be just up to us to get out there representing

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thirtysomethings or fortysomethings.

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I mean, they have to come out as well.

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I think we suffer the worst of the government's decisions

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and that's why we haven't any choice if we want to gain our independence

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to move forward and make a life for ourselves.

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What I've noticed in most of the marchers, most of those

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at the front are really, really young kids, to be honest.

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I don't think they should be there.

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You are supposed to fight for your children's future.

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You should not get your children to fight for your future, right?

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It wasn't meant to be like this.

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By the time Maduro came to power in 2013, the Bolivian revolution,

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begun by his charismatic predecessor, Hugo Chavez,

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was spluttering badly.

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Price controls and the state seizure of industry had apparently failed.

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When the oil price fell, Venezuela's extravagant

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spending didn't stop.

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The country found itself borrowing heavily and increasingly reliant

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on imports of food and medicine.

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In the last four years, the economy has shrunk by a third.

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The IMF estimates that inflation is running at over 700%,

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the highest in the world.

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The people began to go hungry.

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Three out of four Venezuelans lost an average of 18lb

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in weight last year.

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Corruption, say critics, helps the regime to stay in power.

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By controlling foreign exchange, the government decides who prospers.

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The army are kept onside by being given charge

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of the most critical imports.

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The media is muzzled.

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In March, Maduro's supreme court declared the opposition led national

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assembly to be illegitimate.

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Days of daily demonstrations and violent clashes

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with the security forces followed.

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Over 100 have died, and thousands more have been arrested.

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Then, in May, President Maduro declared that a new constitution

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would be drawn up.

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The government wanted to rewrite the rules of the game,

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and no-one was asked if this was what they wanted.

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It's hard to get the government to talk to the media

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but the minister in charge of food distribution -

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a key job in today's Venezuela - did agree to talk to me.

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In the Chavista worldview, there is a familiar bogeyman.

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It's hard to say who represents the opposition in Venezuela.

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But no-one would argue against former presidential

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candidate Maria Corina Machado.

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Disbarred from politics by ruling party legislators,

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she remains a political force and is keen to be

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seen with protesters.

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But Maria Corina Machado thinks there is far more to the resistance

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than violent protests.

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There is a word going around calling the opposition 'the resistance.'

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What is the resistance for you?

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You don't have to look far to find who she is talking about.

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Street kids like these appear at every demonstration.

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Their enthusiasm to take on the security forces,

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whilst brave, places them in real danger.

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Their motivation often stems from a profound sense of injustice.

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TRANSLATION: Three days ago, they nicked me, they tortured me,

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they asked me who was paying me.

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It's a lie.

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Nobody gives us money - we come out because we want a better

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future, we want a better future for Venezuela.

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They split my head, they hit me in the body,

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they grabbed me, they told me they were going to rape me,

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they said they were going to kill me.

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Fuelled by their grievances, some of these young protesters

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take considerable risks.

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This is one of the most controversial aspects

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of the so-called resistance - small pockets of demonstrators

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at the end of the protest come to places like this,

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a military base, and try to attack it.

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In there, they're already scuffles, with some people telling them,

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"Don't do it, you're valuable, you're a young life,

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don't lose it."

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Because over there, the national guard is already waiting for them.

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One person trying to cool the hot heads of the protests is a senior

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citizen now known as Senora de la Tanqueta, or 'tank lady'.

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She rose to fame in April by refusing to move

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out of the way of a small tank.

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She was taken to prison and interrogated before being released.

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The experience has not put her off going to the demonstrations.

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The stakes are certainly high for both sides,

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and the regime is defiant.

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This residential block in Caracas is called Los Verdes, the greens.

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It has been a focal point of vociferous anti-government

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protest since April.

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Neighbours here set up barricades on irregular basis

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and clashes with the police and National Guard are frequent.

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One evening, the government said, another was enough.

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Margarita, her husband and her cousin who lives

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in the apartment, were petrified.

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Although her husband and her cousin were released,

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the intrusion into their home has badly affected the family.

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But not all members of the tower block were so fortunate.

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When she heard the police begin their assault,

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Camila and some friends went to hide in a neighbour's apartment.

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TRANSLATION: When he opened the door of the wardrobe,

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the man who grabbed me, he did it by the hair, he lifted me

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and threw me onto the bed, and then they beat the boys

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in the head.

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They really beat up the boys horribly.

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Even though she told police she was pregnant,

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they took no notice.

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TRANSLATION: We were lying facedown on the floor,

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then they told us to take out their shoelaces.

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Then they kicked me about ten times.

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In the bum, in the legs...

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They also beat the rest of the girls.

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They kept on beating us, even when they took us

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out of the apartment.

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They told someone, come on, I'm going to kill you,

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right here, right now.

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Why did they take me?

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Because this is a dictatorship and they nicked whoever

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they want to, whether you are doing anything or not.

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Camila taken to some of the worst prisons in Caracas,

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before eventually being released.

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Simon was not so lucky, he was arrested at a demonstration,

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accused of being a member of an opposition political party.

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TRANSLATION: They grabbed me from behind, 18, 20 cops

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that came down on me, while they were kicking

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and hitting me, they put me on a bike and took me

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to the headquarters of the intelligence agency.

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Originally designed as the futuristic shopping centre,

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today, the Helicoide is a place whose name makes even

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the hardened shudder.

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Held in an overcrowded cell for over two months,

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Simon witnessed prisoners returning from interrogation, with tell-tale

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signs of having been tortured.

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TRANSLATION: One got back, you could tell he was frightened,

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he couldn't stand up straight and you could see the burn

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marks on his ears.

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And the other guy, you could see his black eye,

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it was all bruised, so you could see they have given him shocks.

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Later on, several offices there told us, we are going to give

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you the shock treatment, and we're going to grab

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those two and soak them, keep them soaked all night long.

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Simon was beaten but not tortured, he could not get

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out of the Helicoide.

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Even though he received a release order from a judge,

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intelligence agency officials ignored it and he was only released

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over one month later.

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Today, he is still trying to get back on his feet.

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TRANSLATION: At night I'm very anxious, any little

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sound makes me jumpy, I feel like I don't know

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what is going to happen.

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I'm still worried that any time, they will come and knock on my door

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and take me back there.

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Far from being intimidated, the opposition are

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growing in strength.

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Whilst we were filming, with Maria Corina Machado,

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and its ordinary defection from a Chavista loyalist.

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This is the Attorney General of Venezuela, now playing

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a key role in the crisis.

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The Maduro regime was not impressed.

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Despite the government's denials, the Attorney General has claimed

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that the security forces are using unauthorised firearms.

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What is clear is that many protesters have been killed

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and severely injured by the reckless use of riot control munitions.

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Many in the opposition believe that behind the bluster,

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Many in the opposition believe that behind the bluster,

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the end game is being played out.

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a recent unofficial plebiscite showed 7 million voters

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were against President Maduro, as many as had elected him in 2013.

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Do you think we are in the final days of Chavism

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as a proposition in politics?

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The president sees a very different future for

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the opposition in Venezuela.

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Whilst the politicians fight it out, the students of Uceve continue

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their own perilous resistance.

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TRANSLATION: I don't mind giving up my life out there in the streets

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if it is for a good cause.

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I believe I would prefer to die than live in this way.

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I will never be able to achieve my attentional as a person here,

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because the government isn't letting me.

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TRANSLATION: I'm scared of dying, I'm scared of seeing

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someone getting killed, to be near them when it happens.

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After all, we are supposed to be fighting for the safe of living

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in a better Venezuela.

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TRANSLATION: when you're standing behind a shield

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and they fire at you, the impact deafens you.

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It leaves your ears ringing.

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There's always the risk that by trying to see

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what is going on a ahead of you, that a pellet can get

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through the shields and hit you in your eye.

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That's your eye gone.

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Or it could kill you.

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TRANSLATION: I always think that maybe one day,

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my luck will run out.

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And I think about those boys who didn't make it back home.

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Every time I get home from the protests, I tell

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myself that it a gift.

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Because many of my mates didn't make it back.

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They may be dead, or under arrest.

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This is a country that has seen many of its youngest people killed,

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injured, or arrested.

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People like these are commemorating the

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lives lost in this wave of political unrest.

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This is very much an open wound, and the consequences are far

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from known, regardless of who is going to run this nation.

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The government now plans to convene a

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new assembly, to rewrite Venezuela's constitution.

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It's a future that many in the country are dreading.

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