Posted on 07/09/2021 7:36:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Heavily armed criminal groups have moved in the past month to residential and commercial areas from slums in the city’s hills, and violence has exploded over the past 24 hours with firefights breaking out in at least five populous neighborhoods.
President Nicolás Maduro’s government has not mentioned any casualties as a result of the clashes. Human rights activists in the area have said at least four civilians were killed on Wednesday and half a dozen have been wounded.
The gangs want to control one of the main corridors linking the capital with the west of the country, said a human rights activist based in one of the affected neighborhoods.
“It’s been the same conflict for months,” said the activist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Analysts say gangs in Cota 905 have been able to operate with ease as it has been a no-go zone for security forces due to a pact with the government to lower violence. Experts say the gangs took the opportunity to acquire military-grade firepower such as grenade launchers, assault weapons and drones.
Inés Candida, 56, lives in the middle-class neighborhood El Paraíso, just across a highway from the Cota 905 barrio. She said gangs had been in shootouts with the police every day for the past month, but she had not seen or heard anything like the past 24 hours.
“We are prisoners in our own homes,” she said by telephone, as unrelenting gunshots rang out in the background.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Hmmmn. Interesting. I have never rooted for “the gangs” when they fight the police before ....
Venezuela still has a middle class?
I suspect the gangs work for the government.
Maduro is not part of a gang?
Everyone was just chillin’, mindin’ their business, waitin’ in line for their weekly portion of boiled rat haunch, when all of a sudden Violence Broke Out.
But Venezuela loves the people… that’s why they’re communist.
How can they have criminals?
“Everyone was just chillin’, mindin’ their business, waitin’ in line for their weekly portion of boiled rat haunch, when all of a sudden Violence Broke Out.”
LOL
L
Coming soon in a Democrat controlled city near you!
Ain’t socialism grand???
I thought Sluggo outlawed firearm ownership.
Gangs? LOL
Dropping a hydrogen bomb on Caracas would be an act of mercy at this point.
“It’s not a gang, it’s a club.”
Plop one on Haiti along the way.
Save gas by only making one trip.
Port-au-Pottie
Which side was AOC on?
The propaganda/leftist Guardian makes wants them to be mere criminal gangs.
I bet there’s a lot more to it than that.
Starve the sheeple long enough and some will get pissed and do soemthing.
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