Any English speakers may take this as a partial explanation of whats been happening (at least as I have perceived it, from a distance)
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Good afternoon.
My name is Michael O'Callaghan Cañizares, I am a Venezuelan (half-Irish) currently living in N.Ireland but who grew up in Caracas, Venezuela; where I lived until a few years ago and have visited several times since.I write to you today in regards to your call for accounts of the incidents occurring in Venezuela. I am not personally present, but have many friends and family there with whom I have been in constant contact recently. I have appealed to them to contact the BBC directly themselves but in case they do not I wish to pass on some of what I have come to know myself. I know the BBC to be honest and impartial, so I will not bother you with political ideals or rumors, but only facts from trustworthy sources that I would encourage you to check up yourselves, which I believe you will find interesting and hopefully worth reporting on your platform. many of my quoted sources are in Spanish but I imagine translating them should be no problem for you. should you require any help in translating or would like to ask me any questions feel free to contact me at this e-mail address.
Context: It is common knowledge that media in Venezuela is heavily biased. throughout the years many tv / radio stations in Venezuela have been either shut down or bought by government. Globovision, the last TV channel in Venezuela that would have been associated with goverment opposition, was forced to change its leadership roughly ten months ago and has since shown a much more government friendly voice. in the last week or so there have been a number of resignations from members of staff at Globovision, it is believed this is a moral stance against a lack of fair coverage of the protests (source: http://www.el-nacional.com/escenas/Continua-ola-renuncias-Globovision_0_355764576.html).
In
recent weeks during the protests there has been no official coverage
from local news. only from certain international channels and through
the internet via social media and independent news sources. most notably
Colombian news channel "NTN24" which had its signal stopped within
Venezuela during the protests (source: http://www.notimerica.com/venezuela/noticia-venezuela-canal-internacional-noticias-ntn24-denuncia-suspension-senal-venezuela-20140213050435.html)
There are also reports of journalists being
assaulted, arrested and having their equipment seized while attempting
to film protests:
(http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2014/02/16/veinte-periodistas-fueron-agredidos-y-once-detenidos-mientras-cubrian-las-protestas/)
The one medium of information they have
not been able to fully control is the internet (primarily social media)
but they have tried, as reported in this article in which goverment
agency "Conatel" openly threats to shut down "electronic
communications":
source: https://sj3gmf56l4psi2m7genq.r.worldssl.net/si-se-atreven-publicar-la-marcha-conatel-amenaza-con-cerrar-los-medios-electronicos/
source: https://sj3gmf56l4psi2m7genq.r.worldssl.net/si-se-atreven-publicar-la-marcha-conatel-amenaza-con-cerrar-los-medios-electronicos/
Twitter
has been a primary source of information for Venezuelans both there and
abroad. in light of some of the disturbing images that had been
circulating the goverment disrupted the use of twitter within the
country, as confirmed by a twitter spokesman:
2- Human rights violations:
As
your platform has already reported, there have been so far 3 confirmed
deaths, as well as a high number of injuries during the protests. there
have also been over 100 arrests. according to my contacts in Venezuela
as well as many respected news sources in the region there are a large
number of reports of those arrested being assaulted and abused while in
custody, including violent physical abuse and even sexual abuse
allegedly carried out by law enforcement / national guard. sources quote
the volunteer lawyers representing the arrested students on those
allegations (sources: http://www.el-nacional.com/sucesos/Estudiantes-detenidos-Carabobo-golpeados-desnudados_0_356964427.html , http://www.ntn24.com/videos/entrevista-abogado-ddhh-venezuela-121933).
On
the subject of the three killed during the protests there have been a
number of photographs taken by protestors or from security cameras that
would seem to point towards members of the national guard. although
there is also speculation that these may have actually been members of
"Sebin" a government intelligence agency. there is little in the way of
hard evidence or completely confirmed sources on that, but this blog
post makes a compelling, well backed up argument, the blog refers to a
pro-government publication for its source: http://devilsexcrement.com/2014/02/16/while-government-tries-to-blame-lopez-for-deaths-paper-shows-otherwise/
The Venezuelan government has made statements to address some of these things or attempt to show their side. some of this can be confirmed as false, as with this statement by the high ranking official Elías Jaua where he reads a statement from "Unión
de las Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur)" or "the union of South American
Nations" regarding recent disturbances. as was confirmed by NTN24 he
changed the wording and even added statements that were not present in
the original statement when reading it. According to NTN24 this was confirmed by Unasur official Ruth Sylva. the original statement is available on the official website for you compare with that read by Elías Jaua.
source: (http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2014/02/17/jaua-se-contradice-en-comunicado-de-la-unasur-sobre-hechos-de-violencia-en-venezuela/)
I highlight this as an example of the massage being clearly twisted by a
goverment official, on television, to the extent of miss quoting an
important international body.
Other points of interest.
It may also interest you to know that the hacker group "anonymous" has been ciber-atacking Venezuelan government networks. you can see their statements under the hashtag "#OpVenezuela".
although completely unconfirmed, they claim to have hacked government
e-mails and some of what they have found (should it end up being true)
is fairly disturbing. I'll leave you to explore that if you choose.
Amnesty
international has also made public statements demanding the proper
investigation of the deaths occurred during protests. they have so far
not shared any meaningful information on the matter.
you
may also explore the wealth of commentary, photos, videos and
allegations being made and discussed (both proven and not) on Facebook
or Twitter under the hashtags #SOSVenezuela and #PrayForVenezuela
I
understand I am not a direct source, but I hope you will take this as a
starting point to investigate the points I've made and report that
which you find to be true. the people of Venezuela and the world need a
credible news source like the BBC to help them sort the facts from the
noise so they can understand what is happening in Venezuela.
I
am always available to discuss any of this with you. I may also be able
to put you in contact with more direct sources that I know within
Venezuela should you express an interest in talking to them.
Thank you for your time.
Michael O'Callaghan Cañizares.
"
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