Protests in Venezuela: Struggle against a Dictatorship or Class Warfare? (Heinz Leitner)

Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines travels to Venezuela on the trail of evidence to support claims from opposition protestors that they are being repressed by a brutal dictatorship, but finds a far more complex situation unfolding in the country. Opposition to the Venezuelan government comes from elite groups who are frustrated with the socialist policies of the state. Meanwhile, large numbers of poor Venezuelans whose lives improved dramatically under the late Hugo Chavez’s government, stridently defend the continuation of the Bolivarian Revolution under the presidency of his successor, Nicolas Maduro. Tragically, what emerges in this report is a nation divided by a struggle between rich and poor.

© Al Jazeera