Purely_coincidental

Hey, I'm from Venezuela, and we're currently having a very similar situaton to what you had until the violence escalated. We, have, like you, government armed and paid thugs shooting at unarmed students and other protesters.

What would you say could've been done by protesters to avoid violence? We are currently using very similar tactics as you, but instead of big concentration, we've split and barricaded a big chunk of the country's streets. Would you say this is smart? Should we concentrate the protests in one place lke you are doing or should we keep at it the way we're doing it?

It's not like I'm gonna have any real influence on how it develops, but I would love some insight from a fellow freedom-fighter who has endured repression and some advice on how we should endure it while minimizing casualties. Thanks for doing this.

That's amazing, you really got your discipline down there. The barrage of molotovs was fully synchronized.

Here, we are still just the students fighting in most states (especially in the big cities), so no hope yet of actually standing ground against the government, though the bulk of the population is slowly growing conscious. Yet most of them don't understand that we have to get rid of the mafia ruling elite any way possible.

Again thanks for all the advice and the example of peaceful civil disobiedence you gave us. Ukraine definitely played a part in the waking of the people, you showed us that not even an amoral dictator with support of a superpower could withstand a people united. Even if things don't work out here we will always be thankful to you.

Also barricades proved to be too weak against special police vehicles.

I'm afraid about that, but yesterday people from a state were saying that they had managed to topple a special police tank by lifting the sewers and putting the barricades right in front of the hole like this but with barricades or at least stop them by putting unmovable objects blocking the streets.

Could you provide a link on some good reading about happenings in Venezuela?

Unfortunately, we still the propaganda machine in full swing from both sides both in national and international media trying to put ideology and politics in the focus, when this should be about the problems that caused people to protest. We do however have a large sticky in /r/worldnews which we share with you guys where you can find enough info from both sides (of course take it as you would with info about your country, with a grain of salt) and we have our own sub /r/vzla where we've been following all the protests and events that have been happening. We have tried to be objective but when only one side is dying and is unarmed it is hard to be.

And one more question: Is there anything we can makeshift to protect against bullets that actually works? Until now only low calibre guns are being used on population, did the steel shields effectively protect against those?

Lastly, sorry for being like this, although you most likely understand where I'm coming from. I know you're going through probably the worst your country has seen, and your time is valuable. Thanks for giving valuable advice to me and my brothers.

And mine to you! Good luck and stay safe. I'm following your country's development closely.