Maduro’s masked thugs unleash terror along border

Bloomberg

The masked motorcyclists roared into the border town, shooting pistols in the air. They sent terrified demonstrators racing to cower in doorways or tremble in the homes of strangers. They formed roadblocks to shake down dissidents, and late into the night they prowled debris-strewn streets in deafening patrols.
In San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, colectivos — gangs loyal to autocratic President Nicolas Maduro — led the charge against those who challenged the regime this past weekend. They terrorized thousands who tried to usher humanitarian aid into the hungry nation from Colombia, brutalizing them within a block of an international bridge where food and medicine were waiting.
“We were completely powerless,’’ said Ismael Oropeza, 39, who was among the masses that marched down the main avenue early Saturday. As protesters confronted Venezuelan national guardsmen, men with their faces covered by ski masks and bandannas emerged from behind a row of soldiers and opened fire, Oropeza said. “If your government shoots you like a dog in the street, who do you turn to?”
As Maduro maneuvers against the attempts of National Assembly leader Juan Guaido to unseat him, mobilizing the colectivos is a risky gamble. He last unleashed the gangs on a large scale during months of protests in 2017, brutal clashes that cemented the regime’s autocratic image. Now, with world’s attention on Maduro, their savagery is eliciting condemnation and figures to propel international efforts to drive him out.
“This is doomsday for Maduro and colectivos,’’ said Alejandro Velasco, an associate professor of Latin American studies at New York University. “They are not thinking in terms of trying to win a war of optics. They are trying to win a war, period.’’
Violence raged along Venezuela’s borders as Guaido and his supporters — which include the US and some 50 other nations — amassed supplies at entry points in Colombia and Brazil. The aid was meant to sustain an oil-rich country brought low by years of corruption and mismanagement. It also was meant to demonstrate the leadership of Guaido, 35, who claims the constitution makes him the rightful leader because Maduro stole last year’s election.

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Maduro said the convoys were a pretext for a foreign invasion, and his forces crushed the effort with tear gas, plastic buck shot and often bullets. At least 200 people were wounded, and in the remote town of Santa Elena de Uairen at least four died as troops and colectivos ran rampant, according to eyewitnesses.
US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the use of gangs to repress civilians. “They will soon realize just how badly they overplayed their hand,’’ tweeted the Republican senator, who has helped shape US policy. Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and a former Chilean president, condemned the “disgraceful scenes.”
Colectivo is an umbrella term to describe irregular, leftist groups in impoverished areas, and there are dozens across Venezuela. They originated in the urban-guerrilla movements of the 1960s and later regrouped in slums doing community work — vigilantism coupled with political education.