Lol oh lol ABC! Venezuela Election is a High Stakes Affair for Local Vigilante Groups [View all]

[Catherina]

written by @ruedareport
Latin America correspondent for @UnivisionNews covering #drugwar, politics and culture

The article is worth a sardonic read.

Venezuela Election is a High Stakes Affair for Local Vigilante Groups

By MARTIN MARKOVITS and MANUEL RUEDA (@ruedareport)
March. 27, 2013


Members of the Victor Polay Campos colectivo await for Chavez?s casket to arrive in Caracas'23 de Enero Neighborhood on March 15, 2013. The Polay Campos Colectivo is one of twenty vigilante groups that patrols this Caracas neighborhood with guns and long range weapons. (Martin Markovits/Freelance)

In the Caracas barrio of 23 de Enero, a coalition of armed vigilante groups serves as the de facto security force. It also helps run social welfare programs for a neighborhood overrun by drug dealing.

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There are more than 20 autonomous colectivos in Caracas, and they're mostly centered in 23 de Enero, a community of makeshift shacks and public housing projects that is home to about 100,000 people. Their arsenal of weapons includes AK-47s, handguns and homemade grenades.

These Marxist-leaning groups are firm supporters of Venezuela's current socialist government, and over the past decade, have organized massive voter turnout campaigns that helped Chávez to comfortably win a majority of votes in the areas under their control. On April 14th, they will engage in another such campaign, and every member of the colectivos will be required to bring ten residents to the polls.

"We support Nicolas Maduro, whom we have known since he was a kid. He was a member of revolutionary groups just like ours. We are going to do whatever it takes to win the 10 million votes (that the government is aiming for in this election)," said Lisandro "Mao" Perez, director of colectivo Guerrilla Pedagogica.

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http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/ABC_Univision/venezuela-election-high-stakes-affair-local-vigilante-groups/story?id=18822407#.UVNFzxzXh8E