At least 20,000 Venezuelan students took to the streets of Caracas this Monday to celebrate the country’s National Day of University Students. Traditionally held on the 21st of November, the occasion commemorates the 1957 university strike which was prominent in bringing down the Venezuelan dictator, Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
On Friday President Hugo Chavez announced the creation of the Ministry of Youth and Students which aims to address the needs of young people, and will be run by them.
Tens of thousands of Venezuelan students marched through Caracas on Sunday to celebrate the Day of the University Student and to pressure the National Assembly to pass a new law for university-level education.
By Zachary Lown – Venezuelanalysis.com, Jul 8th 2009
The
Venezuelan government's decision to reduce federal funding for the nation's
public universities in May generated two months of political turbulence that
erupted into violence on university campuses. The conflict is rooted in a
broader national debate over the role of education in society and the role of the
state in public education.
Venezuelan authorities arrested eight Merida state police officers on Tuesday for their suspected involvement in the fatal shooting of student leader Yuban Ortega during a protest last week.
Seeking to highlight the deeper analysis provided by non-conformist voices, Venezuelanalysis.com interviewed student leader
and social activist Carmen Pulido about the state of radical student
activism and the amendment.
To understand the shape of the contest we must make sense of the narrative
frames used by leaders on both sides, though they form an important part of the
democratic debate they can also fan the flames of violent conflict.
By James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com, Jan 27th 2009
Fifty-one years to the day after Venezuelans toppled the U.S.-backed
dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, tens of thousands of Venezuelans
held marches in Caracas and other major cities last Friday to either
support or oppose a constitutional amendment that would get rid of the
two-term limit on elected officials.
Thousands of university and high school students in Caracas, the states
of Barinas, Lara, Anzoategui, and Sucre, as well as in other cities,
marched yesterday in support of the constitutional amendment to be put
to public vote on February 15.
Violent confrontations related to the campaign for an amendment to
Venezuela's constitution that would abolish the two-term limit on
elected office have taken place in several Venezuelan cities, prompting
the government to proclaim that demonstrators who threaten public
security should be promptly detained by local police.
