Illustrative Image by andresAzp, available in Flickr: “Evening protests on February 15th in Altamira. Caracas, Venezuela. Published under Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Six protesters have died, President Maduro's government is accused of using torture on protesters to obtain false confessions of “terrorism,” and evidence of police abuse is circulating on social media. Despite the clampdown, the protests in Venezuela haven't stopped since the end of March. “The money is never enough, there are no medicines, and the streets are full of criminals, and you won't let me protests on top of it all?,” one protester, who was tortured by the police, said in a testimony that is detailed below. Eleven countries in the region condemned the death of six protesters and issued a public statement urging the Venezuelan government to stop the violence and ensure the security of the protesters who plan to hit the streets again on April 19. The government-run media continues to call protesters “terrorists” and President Maduro is encouraged his supporters to “take action” on the streets too. Maduro has warned that the protests on April 19 will be confronted by the Venezuelan National Militia, officially known as the Nacional Bolivarian Militia. Protests in Venezuela started after the separation of power controversy on March 30, when the Supreme Court of Justice effectively nullified the National Assembly, assuming its role and permitting President Nicolas Maduro to take over some functions of the legislature. The decision was short-lived — the court reversed course days later, but protests have continued due to the deep economic, social and political crisis that has shaken the country the last few years. Protesters are closely following the case of testimony made by the Sánchez brothers, militants of the opposition party Primero Justicia, who admitted, allegedly under torture, that they were responsible of violence during the protests and “terrorist acts” encouraged by the opposition political parties. From a public post on Facebook, journalist and Global Voices collaborator Luis Carlos Díaz explains the case of the Sánchez brothers (The full text has been translated here by the blog Caracas Chronicles): […] el Vicepresidente pidió para ellos y para otras decenas de detenidos “la pena máxima”. Al unísono, el coro de voces oficiales los acusó de “terroristas”. En sus medios de comunicación, pagados con nuestro dinero, llevan días hablando de ‘terrorismo’ para referirse a la gente que protesta. […] Así, dos estudiantes van a una de las peores cárceles del mundo, violando decenas de leyes y dejando una estela de abusos a su paso. Pero sobre todo, lo que me ha costado muchos párrafos explicarte, el militante de base del chavismo lo celebra así: “encerramos a dos terroristas y faltan muchos más”. Para hacerlo están dispuestos a apoyar la tortura, las desapariciones, las detenciones arbitrarias y los juicios amañados. Les da igual. Después de apoyar una dictadura para mantener el poder, ¿qué puede ser peor? The Vice President asked the “maximum penalty” for them and for others that had been arrested. In unison, the choir of pro-government voices accused them of being terrorists. In their media, payed with our money, they've been referring to protesters as “terrorists” […] This is how two students are being sent to one of the worst prisons in the world, leaving behind them a trail of abuse, and broken laws. What I've been trying to explain in many paragraphs, the chavismo-base militant celebrates it this way: “we've jailed two terrorists, and we'll jail more”. To do it, they're willing to support torture, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and show trials. It doesn't matter to them. After supporting a dictatorship to keep themselves in power, what can be worse? Torture allegations and police brutality are being documented on social and independent media. Through the online media portal ProDavinci, journalist Valentina Oropeza collected testimonies around one case of police brutality against a young man that was ambushed by police and brutally beaten. He was finally taken to the hospital, where doctors spread the word on social media to contact his parents. The doctors and nurses refused to let their patient go with the guards, and this, it seems, made all the difference: En el piso empezaron a darme coñazo pero salvaje. Lo que hice fue taparme la cabeza. Me dieron por la espalda, las costillas, los brazos, las piernas. Me dieron con el rolo ese por todos lados. Hasta con la peinilla y con el casco también me dieron por la cara. Me daban puñetazos, patadas y me golpearon con la culata del lanzabombas, me halaron el pelo durísimo, y uno de ellos intentó meterme el dedo por el trasero.