Aftermath of a Venezuela-Style Lynching
Aftermath of a Venezuela-Style Lynching
By Arlene Eisen, July 3rd 2014
Almost three months have passed since an enraged right-wing mob brutally beat law student William Muñoz (30), then doused him with gasoline. It was a scene horrifically reminiscent of lynchings that have murdered thousands of Black people in the U.S. But on April 3, 2014, on the campus of the prestigious 300-year old Central University of Venezuela (UCV), a good Samaritan or an ambulance driver rescued Muñoz before the mob could incinerate him. That is where the record of this Venezuelan saga begins to depart from the shameful history of genocidal murders in the U.S.
Videotapes provide only a partial and clouded view of the event. On a Thursday afternoon, a group of some 200 anti-government demonstrators had attempted to march through the UCV campus to the Attorney General’s office. Police intercepted them at the gates of the university and tear gas forced them to retreat back into the campus. The percentage of the hundred-odd masked demonstrators who were actually students is one of the many issues of contention. Enraged and frustrated by their encounter with the police, some 60 of them surrounded and severely beat William Muñoz and doused him with gasoline. They claimed he was a Chavista and perhaps a government “spy”. Muñoz lost consciousness, sustained two fractured rips, a broken nose, a skull fracture, concussion and numerous contusions. They also beat social work student, Wenderly Conde, who had attempted to aid Muñoz. It is unclear whether Muñoz was rescued by a good Samaritan or the arrival of an ambulance, which was also doused in gasoline.
Within days of the attack, President Maduro labeled it “the worst lynching we have seen,” publically embraced a battered Muñoz and vowed to put an end to such terrorism. For a couple of weeks, a steady stream of videos, written accounts and commentaries from Chavista and anti-government viewpoints competed, each with their version of “the truth”. Who is William Muñoz – a Chavista “spy” out to disrupt an anti-government march or a law student at the UCV who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was racism involved? What triggered the violence? What leaders were responsible? Who will be held accountable for the crime?
On June 2, 2014, Muñoz appeared before the first session of an investigatory hearing of the Permanent Commission on Interior Policy of the National Assembly. On June 12, Cecilia Garcia Arocha, the right wing rector of UCV, was forced to testify before the same Commission. Modesto Ruiz, Deputy from the state of Miranda and Afrodescendant author of the Bolivarian Law against Racial Discrimination, heads the Commission. He has vowed to end impunity for terrorists. He implied that the ex-director of UCV Security and the Rector Arocha had responsibility for the attack.
More:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10771
= new reply since forum marked as read
