Barry Stoller
Sat, 13 Apr 2002 20:08:09 -0700
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
AP. 13 April 2002. Stream of Riot Victims in Venezuela. CARACAS -- Edgar Paredes frantically pulled his bloodied brother, Luis, from the back of the bloodstained family car and cradled him in his arms, begging for a stretcher at Caracas' Perez Carreno hospital. His brother was shot Saturday during a protest in which demonstrators began demanding the release of Venezuela's detained President Hugo Chavez -- one of countless victims of rioting in the Venezuelan capital Saturday. "We have every right to protest, but they are gunning us down out there," said Edgar, his lothes soaked in blood as he held his wounded brother. He didn't know who shot him. Police fired repeatedly at protesters in various Caracas slums. Saturday and hospitals throughout the city's poorest areas were inundated with victims of on Saturday. Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said there had been nine people killed and about 40 injured in politically related violence Saturday. Cars and ambulances delivered victims in a steady stream at Perez Carreno in La Yaguara, one of Caracas' poorest and most dangerous districts. "We are at the point of collapse," said nurse Margarita Delgado. "On a normal day we receive 20 or 30 patients here. Today were are receiving four or five times that many." Screams of pain, agony and sorrow filled emergency rooms. Tearful and frantic family members waited outside, anxious for word of whether their loved ones were still alive. The casualties ranged from a 12-year boy to a 70 year-old woman. In many cases, traffic jams produced by the rioting and looting, or simply by people fleeing violence, made it difficult, if not impossible, to get the wounded to hospitals. The interiors of many cars bringing in victims were stained with blood. Already angry about Chavez's arrest, victims were further incensed by the fact that private Venezuelan television and radio stations did not report Saturday's disturbances -- or pro-Chavez protests -- in poorer areas such as the slums of western Caracas. "The local media aren't showing what is happening here. They complained about Chavez ... but they are worse,'' said Hector Flores, 52, a chauffeur observing the events at Perez Carreno. "This (new) government usurped power, and now it is repressing the people." Tens of thousands of Chavez supporters streamed down from the hillside slums to voice their support Chavez, gathering in front of the presidential palace. Announcers did urge viewers to stay calm and not be provoked by "rumors" of political unrest. Shortly after he took office in 1999, Chavez issued a decree requiring all public hospitals to attend to people without insurance. Under previous governments, the poor often were turned away. For such actions Chavez was beloved by many. Earlier Saturday, a pathologist at the Caracas morgue said 30 bodies had been brought by early Saturday, most with bullet wounds. Tears streaming down her face, Juana Chirinos, 50, watched the ambulances pull in to Pedro Carreno Hospital and muttered repeatedly, "My God. My God." "While we bring in our dead one after the other, the rich people in the east are having drinks and fanning themselves," she said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================