From paintings to flash protests, Venezuelan artists raise voices

Record ID: 896219

  • Title: From paintings to flash protests, Venezuelan artists raise voices
  • Date: 20th June 2017
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WITH BANNERS THAT READ (Spanish): ''WITH VIOLENCE WE LOSE EVERYTHING'' AND SHOUTING SLOGANS VARIOUS OF ANGEL ZAMBRADO, ONE OF THE ORGANISERS OF A PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENT POLITICAL UNREST, SHOUTING SLOGANS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ANGEL ZAMBRADO, ONE OF THE ORGANISERS OF A PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENT POLITICAL UNREST, SAYING: "We are a group of citizens who are organising different actions of non-violent protest, peaceful protests accompanying the great demonstrations of all Venezuelans with these creative actions, which are non-violent and peaceful. This is a collective protest group and our idea is to give content to the protest. We come with messages, always with messages and slogans, which vary according to each march and according to the objective of each march." PEOPLE HOLDING BANNERS THAT READ (Spanish): ''NOTHING WITHOUT THE PEOPLE, IN PEACEFUL PROTEST" FIFTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD ARCHITECT, MARIELA RAMIREZ, SHOUTING SLOGANS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING BANNERS AND SHOUTING SLOGANS RAMIREZ WALKING IN FRONT OF BANNERS AND SHOUTING SLOGANS WOMAN SHOUTING SLOGANS TEAR GAS CANISTER BEING DROPPED CLOSE TO PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FIFTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD ARCHITECT, MARIELA RAMIREZ, SAYING: "We were not blocking the street, we were on the sidewalk, leaving space for neighbours to pass through, although the neighbours were participating with us in the protest, chanting slogans where we are exclusively sending a message to the government about our demands as citizens. That is our crime."
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2017 17:41
  • Keywords: voices crisis art opposition discontent President Nicolas Maduro protests signs Venezuela
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016M32M9V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Deploying poems, paintings and posters, opposition-minded artists in Venezuela are expanding their anti-government protests, offering a peaceful alternative to the violent political unrest costing at least 73 lives in two months.
    At the event, lasting just minutes, some shouted phrases lauding peaceful resistance, while others held letters of the alphabet drawn on cardboard which, when joined, spelled a line: "With violence we lose everything."
    Such surprise demonstrations are organized by a group of intellectuals and artistic creators - from historians to film directors - meeting discreetly since May, sometimes in bookshops, to design different strategies of protests to the traditional street marches.
    The organizers break into small groups and appear suddenly at opposition marches or public spaces, including some areas dominated by government supporters, to leave messages that later go viral on social networks.
    Near-daily opposition rallies have brought chaos to Venezuelan streets since April as protesters demand elections, solutions to an economic crisis and a suspension of leftist President Nicolas Maduro's plan to rewrite the constitution.
    Many have descended into battles between masked youths and security forces, with thousands of injuries and arrests on top of the fatalities. Maduro says the protesters are seeking a violent coup with U.S. encouragement.
    Seeking to create arresting images, artists have sometimes turned to gargantuan projects.
    The artists, some of whom draw inspiration from Spain's anti-austerity protesters known as "Indignados" ("The Indignant Ones"), are convinced their methods will be more successful than violent protests. Mariela Ramirez, a fifty-two-year-old architect said they we're trying to reflect what common people feel.
    At times, the security forces have fired tear gas canisters directly at the peaceful art-themed protest gatherings.
    Oscar Olivares, a painter and friend of slain student protester Juan Pernalete, mixes the faces of victims with religious images in his protest-themed designs.
    Sometimes, peaceful protesters have been holding up signs, like "Ceasefire!" or "No To Violence!," just meters (yards) from where young men hurl stones and Molotov cocktails against National Guard soldiers using tear gas and water cannons.
    In the Venezuelan capital Caracas' largest slum, Petare, they recently unfurled a 25-meter- (82-foot-) wide poster made from 3,000 two bolivar currency notes - worth less than $1 at the street rate - to denounce roaring inflation and economic hardship.
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