Six years have passed since that disastrous May 22nd, when the population of Barinas felt the need to demand better public services from Nicolás Maduro’s regime. What nobody imagined was that this demands as requested in the streets would end with seven people dead.
By Correspondent lapatilla.com
Apart from those who demonstrated in the neighborhoods, there was unrest in the commercial sector, because Maduro’s regime was forcing them to mark prices on their merchandise that they considered unfair and that would cause them incalculable losses.
That May 22nd, 2017, in Barinas there were those who raised their voices, after Nicolás Maduro’s attempts to convene a communal Constituent Assembly. This was already the third protest on the same day.
By that date, Chavismo had already gotten into its head that the opposition was plotting a coup d’état, because there were a very large number of protests being carried out over all the country, and that is why they were determined to confront them under the premise: “Little candle that lights up, little candle that is stamped out.”
On the eve of that May 22nd, the protests had been publicly announced and there were citizens who took these actions as calls for a national strike.
As a result, massively urban transit did not work and neither did the bank offices. That had great weight among the citizens, because these determine the economic activity, and because it was difficult for staff to reach the branch offices.
The day passed by and a group of protesters for public services met at the intersection of the “Rómulo Gallegos” Avenue and Mérida Street, at the entrance of the José Antonio Páez urbanization (Los Pozones).
Some 200 meters away was the GNB command post, and the presence of uniformed officers who were preparing to try to break up the protest was not well received by the people on the street.
Rumors and outburst
That day the comments of many people distorted the demands of the calls to protest and the consequences were deaths and vandalism that broke into businesses in a few hours.
“I remember that it was a day, that spread then to two or three, with brutal protests, with deaths that could have been prevented and that were never cleared,” journalist Francisco Aguilar told lapatilla.com.
“There was never an investigation by the Venezuelan State, which explained to us what happened that day.”
The burning of a public transport unit was the spark that lit the powder keg in Barinas, and out of fear the bus drivers disappeared from the streets, people locked themselves in their homes and shots began to be heard.
Yorman Alí Bervecia, 19 years old, was the first protester reported dead. He was at the entrance to “Los Pozones”, the area where street action was stained with the blood spilled by this young man.
He was rushed to the León Fortoul Saavedra outpatient clinic amid cries for help, and then parish priest of the Jesús Nazareno church, Víctor Manuel Roa, responded the call.
“The boy died in the arms of Father Roa,” Carmen Guédez says as she recalls what the citizens of Los Pozones said.
“We Barineses should demand that what happened be investigated, because that day, there were even executions in the way those people died,” said journalist Aguilar.
“There were many deaths in a very short time. Could they have been avoided? Of course, but the authorities did not act in the manner indicated by the codes and procedures, and excessive public force was used to control the protesters,” he recalled.
The deaths of Alfredo Cañizales, Elvis Montilla, Freiber Pérez, Miguel Ángel Bravo, Juan Sánchez and Erick Molina were also recorded during this protests.
Looting and robbery
The attacks on the commerce sector were seen as cruelty and that led them to bankruptcy, even of those who undertook risking all their capital and never managed to recover.
They estimate that more than 200 commercial establishments were looted in Barinas, and although Maduro’s regime offered them help for their recovery, the affected owners considered the aid an risible sum of money compared to what they had lost.
The way people broke into the shops is still in the memory of those who were witnesses, as is the case of the residents of the Don Samuel urbanization who, when consulted about these events, speak with indignation of the arrival of criminal gangs in luxurious vans, without license plates, that attacked shops without mercy.
“They looted and burned,” said a neighbor when asked about it and who is currently celebrating that Chinese merchants settled in Don Samuel reopened last year and regained commercial success.