Venezuela Student Protests: Who is Leading the Movement on the Streets of Caracas?

Clashes between protesters and police have been going in Venezuela since Feb. 12, when groups of students headed to the streets to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro.

Thousands of people in Venezuela have joined the marches since then to protest the country’s high inflation, lack of security, repression of dissent and shortages of basic goods.

But Maduro’s government also has a large contingent of supporters who see him as the leader that is most faithful to Hugo Chavez’s legacy. They live mostly in Venezuela’s poor neighborhoods, where protests have had little impact, as the New York times recently reported.

Many protesters nevertheless, claim that Maduro has turned Venezuela into a quasi-dictatorship. They want to bring the government down through their sustained series of protests, or at least force it to make some significant concessions on issues like media freedoms and economic policies.