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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=venezuela

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1846674/posts

Security Forces Kill Student in Venezuela, Eyewitnesses Report
Epoch Times ^ | Epoch Times Staff Jun 01, 2007 | By Stephen Gregory

Posted on 06/07/2007 3:55:37 PM PDT by mgist

Students seek to bypass government media blackout

Venezuelan police, in riot gear, prepare to face a crowd of college students calling for media freedom in Venezuela.

At approximately 3:20 p.m. this afternoon in Caracas security forces murdered a Venezuelan student who was taking part in the ongoing peaceful protests against Hugo Chavez’s regime, eyewitnesses said.

The student who was killed was named Andreina Gomez Guevara. She was 24 years old and attended UCAB, the Catholic University of Venezuela.

Students inside Venezuela are using the Internet to try to get out news about this murder and these demonstrations to the outside world. They complain that media inside Venezuela has either been silenced or intimidated, preventing a true picture of events there from being reported, and they appeal for help.

Venezuelan Students Spreading News of Killing via Internet Malury de Morales is a Venezuelan living in Florida who has been following these events closely through a constant stream of e-mails and instant messages coming from students in Caracas.

According to a student who e-mailed Ms. Morales and who claims to have been an eyewitness to this afternoon’s murder, the security officers who killed Ms. Guevara went out of their way to do so. Her source says that Ms. Guevara was peacefully protesting, but the police broke ranks in order to go get her and shoot her on the street.

The government of Chavez has issued a statement claiming that the student was killed while engaged in violent protest. Chavez has also broadcast statements that he will “defend Venezuela against violent people.”

College students march to support democracy and media freedom in Venezuela. Venezuela College Students Demonstrate Peacefully According to e-mails Ms. Morales has received, the students’ protests have involved such slogans as, “We want freedom of speech. We don’t want a Communist regime. We don’t want violence.” All the protests are said by the students to have been peaceful.

Pictures e-mailed out of Venezuela by the students show masses of young people peacefully marching the streets of Caracas.

Prior to today’s killing, the students have reported violence being used to try to intimidate them.

“This is a call for aid: Do not be deceived by a tyrant who promotes the destruction and the death of his people.” —An e-mail from a Venezuelan student One e-mail reports over 120 minors having been returned to their homes by police after having been beaten.

Chavez Stops Venezuelan Media, Takes Aim at College Media outside of Venezuela have reported that the student protests, which are now in their fifth day, having begun on May 27, were sparked by the closing of the most popular TV station in Venezuela, RCTV.

Venezuelan students kneel down to block a police vehicle dispersing the crowd with a water cannon.But the students’ opposition to the Chavez regime had another important trigger. On May 24, Chavez had announced he would end the autonomy of the Central University of Caracas.

This university has existed since the beginning of Venezuela and is highly respected. The students of Venezuela are said by Ms. Morales’ e-mail correspondents to have viewed the threat to Central University as symbolic of a general attack on Venezuelans’ freedom.

One e-mail concludes with these words: “This is a call for aid, a S. O. S. to all the planet: Do not be deceived by a tyrant, by someone who is unhinged and who promotes the destruction and the death of his people.”

With the close of RCTV, the only media outlet said to be still willing to report honestly on events in Venezuela is the very weak T.V. station Globovision. Recently members of the Chavez-dominated national assembly threatened to close it.

The students’ e-mails also report that Chavez has now threatened to shut down the Internet.