Socialist Protesting Venezuela’s Maduro: ‘I Don’t Have Food with Which to Defend the Revolution’

A 70-year-old socialist in Venezuela told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a report Friday he wants to defend the “Revolution” but is too hungry to do so, leading to his daily protests against dictator Nicolás Maduro. Omar Monroy has taken to chaining himself to the basilica in Barquisimeto, northwest Venezuela, for eight hours a day to demand that Maduro step down. While he defends the principles of socialism, he says that Maduro’s government has become so corrupt that the system cannot properly function, hence the widespread food and medicine shortages. Monroy still expresses loyalty to Hugo Chávez, the late dictator who brought socialism to Venezuela and similarly used repressive tactics to ensure he would spend the rest of his life in power. -- More....