The Protest Project

100/100 Mourning Venezuela

Right now in Venezuela: Over five months of protests, a death toll of 40+, more than 3000 imprisoned civilians, no food, no water, no electricity, mixed with nonexistent safety and a failing economy.

Today I mourn for my country.

With this image I conclude my 100 day project. Tomorrow I will communicate even further about this experience and my thoughts.

#FuerzaYFe Venezuela. Me dueles y me haces falta.

99/100 United Front

When Venezuelans want to show off their patriotism, they find new and iconic ways each day to demonstrate where they are from. One of the most used patriotic item is the yellow, blue and red striped hat with the stars. They normally wear this hat to symbolize that they are a united front and that they are fighting for one country.

Venezuelans, no more distractions or excuses can be made. Its time to keep fighting for our freedom from this government. Its time to go back to the streets and make our voices heard. #LaSalida

98/100 Where are the airplanes?

A couple weeks ago, Rafael Ramirez (representative of the economic cabinet of Venezuela), said that the reason that there are no airplanes in the country was because the airlines were “diverting aircrafts due to the World Cup”.

The World Cup just ended, and now I ask, where are the airplanes? Clearly Ramirez wasn’t informed that Delta, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France and many other carriers have decided to reduce or suspend operations in Venezuela due to the debt the government owes them.

97100 Reminder

For those who have forgotten, today marks the fifth month of the Venezuelan protests.

96/100 Capriles

Henrique Capriles Radonski is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, serving as Governor of Miranda since 2008. He was the opposition’s presidential candidate going against Chavez in 2012 and Maduro in 2013.

Capriles was the first political leader that was able to start to unify the opposition by using the “Hay Un Camino” (there is a path) political campaign, and has worked hand in hand with Leopoldo Lopez to free Venezuela from the current corrupt government.

Today Capriles celebrates his 42 birthday.

95/100 Time’s up Maduro, the time has come for you to leave.

94/100 Delta

Delta Airlines drastically reduced service to Venezuela on Monday because of the ongoing dispute with the government over a large debt that is owed to the airline. This caused fliers to look to rebook seats in the few carriers that still serve the country.

Delta said it will be reducing 85% of the flights in and out of Venezuela starting August 1st.

93/100 Daniel Ceballos

Today is the scheduled hearing against former Venezuelan opposition mayor Daniel Ceballos. Ceballos, the ex-mayor of San Cristóbal, was in trial this past March for contempt and obstruction of public roads during the protests. For these offenses he was sentenced to 12 months in jail, but was charged again by the prosecution for the alleged commission of rebellion and criminal association.

San Cristóbal is located in the state of Táchira. This is where the Venezuelan protests really started last February 6th before it became a national protest on February 12th.

“Yo no me he rendido, se que ustedes tampoco. Pase lo que pase defenderemos a San Cristóbal hasta nuestro último aliento. No nos doblegarán.” - Daniel Ceballos.

92/100 Cubazuela

Is this what we want?

*NOTE: I have nothing against the people of Cuba. I’m against the government of Cuba controlling Venezuela.

91/100 Dictionary of the Revolution

The errors in Nicolas Maduro’s speech appear to be very common. The language used by Maduro is cause for laughter and ridicule everywhere. So much so that his made up words show that he doesn’t possess the notion or the dignity of the office he represents.

Maduro’s lack of knowledge is the only thing that keep Venezuelans entertained when his speeches are live on national network. Some of the words he has created are: capuski, millonas, escribidores and libras (as in the female version of books). You can find more of these examples in the website www.maduradas.com which was created just to highlight these absurdities.

90/100 Independence Day

July 5th 1811 marks the day of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence. This day was when Venezuelans made the decision to separate from the Spanish crown in order to establish a new nation based on equality of individuals, abolition of censorship and dedication to freedom of expression. These principles were key components of the constitutional rights of the nation.

Today, these civil and human rights are being violated constantly by the current government, and although it has been hard to regain these rights, the Venezuelans that support the opposition fight each day to obtain their freedom that Simon Bolivar intended for us to have.

89/100 El Universal

105 years of existence and recognized as one of the oldest and best quality newspapers, El Universal (The Universal) is one of the Venezuelan newspaper that has suffered the crisis of paper, including reduction of news columns. It was owned by the Mata family since it was founded by the poet Andrés Mata and then by his son and grandson to this day.

This morning the new president of El Universal, Jesus Abreu Anselmi, met to inform employees that the company stock transfer was finalized. Abreu said the buying group does not “have any link with the national government.” He also gave his word as the only proof that the editorial line of the media will not be changed. We will see how long this lasts.

88/100 Cortoelec

Workers of the National Electricity Corporation (Corpoelec) are protesting for a second day in a row in multiple cities of Venezuela. On Wednesday, workers started a manifesting in Caracas to demand improvements in wages and the resignation of manager of the Ministry of Electric Power, Jesse Chacón, who is part of the Chavismo movement.

As mentioned in a previous post (#55), Venezuelans have been forced for about 5 years to get used to living without electricity. Without these workers, the infrastructure and the lack of the government support, this issue wont be solved any time soon.

87/100 Fake Assasination Plot

“A cybersecurity forensics expert said the emails used by the Venezuelan government to accuse political opponents and U.S. diplomats of conspiring to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro last month are fake.

The assassination-plot accusation was first made in May by Venezuelan officials through a broadcast that was on all the television stations in the country. Based on a handful of emails, the government accused leading opponents of the government of plotting to murder Maduro.” - (José de Córdoba, WSJ)

You can read the full Wall Street Journal article here: http://alturl.com/prf5t

86/100 Polar Closure

Two weeks ago Polar, the largest private company in Venezuela, stopped production of its beverage packaging plant in the absence of raw material (second plant it closes down for the same reason in less than 2 months). Aside from this closure, yesterday the union of Polar Brewery illegally halted production and distribution of beer and malt throughout the metropolitan area of ​​Caracas in hopes to negotiate better wages and benefits.

These closures worsen the current extreme shortages the country is experiencing since Maduro became president. The root of this situation is because of the currency exchange the country has been going through since 2003. Polar has been in constant negotiations with the government about the currency control in order to be able keep up their production, provide more to the country (after the government requested a production increase) and be able to keep improving employees wages and benefits.

85/100 SAIME

SAIME is a Venezuelan government institution, traditionally in charge of Civil registry services. The name derives from the Spanish acronym for Servicio Administrativo de Identificación, Migración y Extranjería. (Administrative Service of Identification and Migration).

Minister Dante Rivas, a member of SAIME and the head of the ministry of commerce, was finally exposed for being involved in drug trade. In brief, what Rivas did was sell importation licenses for vehicles (which is also illegal) and get paid his “commission” with drug trade money.

84/100 SOS Venezuela

Venezuela still needs help. Don’t forget that.

This image was the first icon that was used by the opposition to communicate internationally that Venezuela is going through a dire situation.