SmartDeeDee

This is such a wonderful answer! Greetings from South America. We love you over here.

Just for clarity's sake, in case someone sees this, I would like to mention the media blockade.

It's not that we are unable to watch tv, like it happened in 2002 when the government took down transmission antennas. What's going on right now is that the TV channels are self-censoring to avoid being fined or worse under the RESORTE law, that states that channels can't broadcast violent content amongst other things, which are not clear in the text of the law.

Now, there was a channel on some cable services, a colombian channel called NTN24, that was taken off the channel listings under pressure of the government. I know that sounds like a baseless accusation, but it's happened before, when RCTV was taking of cable listings. And I'm talking about cable, not national broadcast.

I'm not OP, but I'd like to expand on his answer a little bit.

The american perception of Chavez, sadly, comes mostly from his clashes with Bush during his presidency and the way the american mass media covered it. This, in my humble opinion, created a polarized view of Chavez that overlaped with american people's view of Bush. So while Bush kept taking dives in his popularity in the US, Chavez's rose due to his constant denounces of the issues in the US. Thing is, in this context you can't apply that old saying that says that your enemy's enemy is your friend. Just because Chavez was very vocal against Bush, it doesn't mean that he was doing it for the right reasons, or that he was doing the opposite of what Bush was doing in the US in his country. I personally think they had many things in common in terms of personality, and Chavez, being the savvy politician he was (credit where credit's due), knew how to take advantage of the local and foreign situation.

As to Cuba, it's understandable why they would be moved by Chavez's death. Venezuela has been subsidizing oil to Cuba since early on the presidency of Chavez, and before that Cuba's economic condition wasn't the prettiest. Of course, it still isn't that good, but they take the oil that Venezuela gives them, at subsidized prices and with special payment accomodations, and sell some of it in the international market for profit. Since Chavez was the one who started this policy, cuban demonstrations of affection are a reflection of their gratitude.

I think this is the biggest issue that exists in getting the opposition's message across, because when we oppose a government like that of Maduro, who is just following, in theory anyway, the policies of Chavez, the conception of some foreigners about venezuelans who dissent is that we want a conservative type of state, where most if not all social policies are stripped, much like it's slowly happening outside of Venezuela in certain countries. And this is far from the truth.

The call of the opposition has never been one similar to that of, for example, staunch republicans, who believe the government should not provide a social safety net for its citizens. In Venezuela, since before Chavez, there have been safety nets in place, at least in theory, but just so happens that all these programs are not well executed for the most part, which leads to money being wasted. Add to that the staggering levels of corruption and you have a rich country with poor citizens. This was the case before, during and now after Chavez.

We don't want a Margaret Thatcher or a Ronald Reagan, we just want a government that functions, and after 15 years of food and power shortages, rampant crime and high inflation, it's clear this is not that kind of government. It's sad that everything that we present to the foreign public is always viewed through the lens of the american reality; forgetting that not all countries share the same circumstances. Now I don't blame people for comparing other countries to theirs, but when is done with disregard to the national context and solely through an ideological lens, misconceptions like the ones I mentioned happen.

I'm not saying this is what you, or OP are doing, though. It's just something I wanted to get off my chest.

Once again, sorry OP for hijacking your AMA. I'm just picking up some slack were I see some.

can you tell us more about what motivated this

It's actually quite interesting and something I haven't seen stressed, or even mentioned, in reddit or most social media.

The current protests began in a border state on the west of the country, Tachira. Because it is so far from the center of the country, and Venezuela has a very centralized system of government --in theory it's a federal state, but in practice most decisions are made from the central government with little left for states to do in terms of determining how they function-- Tachira has always been victim of neglect by the central government, and mayor shortages are seen there, in ways that you can't see in most other states, especially in the capitol. For example, car owners have to equip their vehicles with chips to control how much gas they can purchase. This kind of shortage has actually been quite common in Tachira for many many years because of it's geographic location. They also are, like most states, subject to constant power and food shortages, which are worse than those you would see in the capitol.

All of which I've mentioned so far is just context, though, but it's important to understand what's going on today.

Well, a few weeks ago, before the protests reached the center of the country, what started the protests in Tachira was an incident that happened in a university campus, where a girl was almost raped inside the campus because of lack of security. Because of this, students in Tachira, which I haven't mentioned is a state that has traditionally gone against the government during and after Chavez's tenure decided to protest to demand security in campus, and at the same time protest for the state of affairs in Venezuela today. These protests lasted for a few days and turned violent, with many students being detained for the simple act of protesting. Let's remember that because of the fact they are a border state, and they suffer through all these shortages, the situation there is one of a constant tense calm, and that incident seems to have been the last straw.

How did the protests reach the center of the country? Well, because these students were detained but charges were not presented (since they were not presented to the prosecutor's office), students in Caracas and other central states decided to mobilize to demand the release of these students, since they hadn't been formally charged and were held in prison without reason. So they planned a march on feburary 12, which is national youth day, to the Attorney General's office and demand their release.

How did the protest turn violent? That is a little bit more complicated to explain, since investigations haven't been carried out, but three people were murdered that day. Since that happened, people have just decided to stay on the streets and continue to protest due to people's discontent with the current state of affairs.

I hope this answers your question.