XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: lbateman@msnbc.com   
      
   Obama and Kerry's punk celebrity employees got kicked out of the   
   country.   
      
   (CNN) -- They've faced gunfire, tear gas and water cannons.   
      
   And now a man who led them in days of anti-government   
   demonstrations is behind bars after turning himself in to   
   authorities.   
      
   But Venezuelan protesters were still in the streets after   
   opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez's arrest Tuesday, demanding   
   better security, an end to scarcities and protected freedom of   
   speech.   
      
   President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters also rallied,   
   blaming the opposition for causing the very problems it protests.   
      
   Clashes during days of demonstrations have already left three   
   anti-government protesters and one government supporter dead.   
   And the simmering tensions show no signs of letting up.   
      
   The confrontation took a dramatic turn Tuesday, when Lopez,   
   accused by the government of conspiracy and murder in connection   
   with the recent violence, marched with a crowd of thousands of   
   protesters before surrendering to national guard troops.   
      
   "The options I had were leave the country, and I will never   
   leave Venezuela!" Lopez told the massive crowd. "The other   
   option was to remain in hiding, but that option could have left   
   doubt among some, including some who are here, and we don't have   
   anything to hide."   
      
   Hours later at a rally with throngs of supporters, Maduro said   
   the head of Venezuela's National Assembly had helped negotiate   
   Lopez's surrender and was taking him to a prison outside Caracas.   
      
   Maduro: Opposition leaders are 'fascists'   
      
   Maduro described opposition leaders as right-wing fascists who   
   plant seeds of fear and violence. He claimed they have U.S.   
   backing and repeatedly tried to assassinate him and overthrow   
   his democratically elected government.   
      
   And he compared the opposition to an illness plaguing the South   
   American country.   
      
   "The only way to fight fascism in a society is like when you   
   have a very bad infection ... you need to take penicillin, or   
   rather the strongest antibiotic, and undergo treatment," he   
   said. "Fascism is an infection in Venezuela and in the world.   
   And the only treatment that exists is justice."   
      
   Footage from Tuesday's demonstration shows Lopez being led by   
   national guard troops to a military vehicle, waving to the crowd   
   as he is placed inside and even continuing to speak on a   
   megaphone until the door is closed.   
      
   Charges against him include murder, terrorism and arson in   
   connection with the protests, according to his party, Popular   
   Will. Lopez denies the accusations, the party said in a   
   statement calling for witnesses of the protests to send their   
   own accounts of what happened to be used in his defense.   
      
   A message on Lopez's Twitter account Tuesday night said he was   
   on the way to a military prison, where party officials said he   
   would be held at least until a court appearance scheduled for   
   Wednesday. The post included a link to an apparently pre-   
   recorded video message, showing the opposition leader seated on   
   a couch next to his wife, calling on Venezuelans to keep pushing   
   for change.   
      
   "If you are watching this video, it is because the government   
   has carried out one more abuse, full of lies, of falsehoods, of   
   twisting facts and trying to manipulate the reality that we   
   Venezuelans are living," he said. "I want to tell all   
   Venezuelans that I do not regret what we have done up to this   
   moment, in convoking the protests ... The people came out. The   
   people woke up."   
      
   'Yankee, go home'   
      
   Major social and economic problems in Venezuela have fueled the   
   protests. But as the demonstrations gained steam, officials have   
   pointed fingers at other factors, accusing the United States of   
   plotting to destabilize the government.   
      
   On Monday, Venezuela gave three U.S. diplomats 48 hours to leave   
   the country, accusing them of conspiring to bring down the   
   government. At Tuesday's rally, Maduro shouted, "Yankee, go   
   home" from the stage, drawing cheers from the crowd.   
      
   17-year-old dies during Venezuelan protests   
      
   The opposition has been defeated over and over again at the   
   polls, and despite this decision by the people, it continues to   
   call for marches and protests, Julio Rafael Chavez, a ruling   
   party lawmaker, told CNN en Español on Tuesday.   
      
   "The peace-loving Venezuelans feel very, very worried by the   
   irrational, fascist-leaning attitude and actions of a sector of   
   the Venezuelan opposition," he said.   
      
   This isn't the first time that bitter protests and counter-   
   protests by supporters and opponents of the government have   
   threatened political stability in Venezuela over the past decade.   
      
   Many of Maduro's claims -- of U.S. intervention, of   
   assassination plots -- were also lobbed by the late President   
   Hugo Chavez.   
      
   Chavez was briefly ousted in a coup in 2002, but otherwise   
   outlasted the protests and repeatedly won re-election and ruled   
   for 14 years until his death last year after a long battle with   
   cancer.   
      
   Venezuela: Expelled U.S. diplomats have 48 hours to leave   
      
   The U.S. State Department has repeatedly denied Venezuela's   
   accusations. Asked whether the United States backs Lopez, Sen.   
   John McCain told CNN Tuesday that his country "backs the   
   people's right to express their will, to object to corruption,   
   the repression of the media and the arrest of political   
   dissidents."   
      
   Opposition leader: Government wants confrontation   
      
   The current protests are the biggest that the Maduro government   
   has faced in its 11 months in power.   
      
   The latest death came Monday, when a 17-year-old was hit by a   
   truck and killed at a protest in the northeastern city of   
   Carupano, a government official said.   
      
   Lopez's party, Popular Will, has accused the government of being   
   responsible for violence during the protests.   
      
   At Tuesday's rally, Maduro stressed that the socialist   
   revolution he now leads is peaceful and democratic.   
      
   "What I want is peace, dialogue, understanding, coexistence,"   
   Maduro said. "It is what I want and what I am doing."   
      
   But another opposition leader said that the government's actions   
   paint a different picture.   
      
   "The latest actions we've seen from the government indicate that   
   far from fomenting a climate of peace, (it) is trying to fortify   
   the climate of confrontation and violence that the world has   
   seen in images," former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles   
   told CNN en Español.   
      
   Capriles has backed away from calling for massive protests,   
   saying they are ineffective and play into the government's   
   narrative, but he said Lopez has his support.   
      
   "The protest will continue as long as the government gives no   
   sign of resolving the problems of the Venezuelans," Capriles   
   said.   
      
   At least seven people were injured when gunfire erupted during a   
   protest Tuesday in the northern city of Valencia on Tuesday, CNN   
   affiliate Globovision reported. One of them, according to two   
   officials who did not wish to be identified, was a local beauty   
   queen.   
      
   http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/18/world/americas/venezuela-protests/   
      
       
      
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