- Title: Venezuelans march for 60th day, protest Goldman Sachs in NY
- Date: 30th May 2017
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 30, 2017) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS CHANTING "PROSECUTE GOLDMAN SACHS" CLOSE-UP OF PROTESTER CHANTING "PROSECUTE GOLDMAN SACHS" PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGN READING (IN ENGLISH): "YOU GIVE CAPITALISM A BAD NAME" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS READING (IN ENGLISH): "MADURO DICTATOR IS KILLING OUR PEOPLE" AND "NO MORE (BLOOD)", CHANTING (IN ENGLISH): " SHAME ON YOU GOLDMAN SACHS" PROTEST LEADER EDUARDO LUGO TALKING TO CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EDUARDO LUGO, PROTEST LEADER, SAYING: "The immorality and greed of the agreement between Goldman Sachs which was done through intermediaries with the Central Bank of Venezuela controlled by Nicolas Maduro will only help Maduro increase his repression against the Venezuelan people." EXTERIOR OF GOLDMAN SACHS / GENERAL VIEW OF PROTEST VARIOUS OF SIGNS READING (IN ENGLISH): "GOLDMAN SACHS SUPPORTS MADURO'S DICTATORSHIP" LUGO TALKING, SIGN READING (IN ENGLISH): "GOLDMAN SUCKS" (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDUARDO LUGO, PROTEST LEADER, SAYING: "Now with this dealing, what Maduro is doing is securing funds to keep repressing the people on the streets, to keep our families in hunger, in misery and in oppression." VENEZUELAN FLAG AND SIGN READING (IN ENGLISH): "GOLDMAN SACHS PROFITS OFF THE KILLING OF VENEZUELANS BY MADURO'S REGIME
- Embargoed: 13th June 2017 22:52
- Keywords: Venezuela march protests opposition clashes Nicolas Maduro Goldman Sachs New York
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA AND NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA AND NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA0036J16BEV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Venezuelan opposition protesters completed 60 days in the streets on Tuesday (May 30), as a student march maintained the momentum of a movement calling for leftist President Nicolas Maduro to hold elections and allow humanitarian aid into a nation struck by widespread hunger and shortages.
Fifty-nine people have died in the often violent street melees, which Maduro calls an effort to overthrow his government.
Two Venezuelan opposition leaders, Henrique Capriles and Carlos Paparoni, were wounded on Monday by security forces dispersing protests in the capital Caracas against President Nicolas Maduro, according to one of the leaders and an opposition legislator.
Another opposition leader at the march on Tuesday, Miguel Pizarro, said they would not give up despite the deaths and repression seen as an attempt to tire protesters and quell the movement.
Meanwhile in Caracas, a rally was held in support of Maduro and a controversial Constituent Assembly he has called in the name of holding elections and giving power to the people, whilst opposition leaders call it an attempt to confuse voters expectant of regional elections, and to override the opposition-led National Assembly.
In New York, about two dozen protesters chanting "Prosecute Goldman Sachs" and "Shame on you Goldman Sachs" picketed outside of Goldman's headquarters in lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, over transactions allegedly carried out between the investment bank and the Venezuelan government.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc's statement that it never transacted directly with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro when it bought 2.8 billion dollars of bonds for pennies on the dollar was dismissed by the country's opposition on Tuesday as an effort to "put lipstick on this pig."
Goldman, in a statement late Monday confirming the purchase, said its asset-management arm acquired the bonds "on the secondary market from a broker and did not interact with the Venezuelan government."
The New York-based investment bank came under fire from Venezuelan politicians and protesters in New York opposed to Maduro, who said the deal provided the cash-strapped government hundreds of millions of dollars in badly-needed hard currency. They said the deal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, made Goldman Sachs complicit in alleged human rights abuses under the government. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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