Francisco Toro of the blog Caracas Chronicles has written a scathing post about how “the game changed in Venezuela last night” and “the international media is asleep at the switch.”
In an open post to international editors, Toro said that people should understand that “what had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out over many years went kinetic all of a sudden,” linking to a post describing tons of violence and where multiple raw videos show the violence.
“Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries on motorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting,” he wrote.
“What we saw were not ’street clashes,' what we saw is a state-hatched offensive to suppress and terrorize its opponents.”
But he said that when he went to look for coverage on international media sites such as the Guardian and Fox News, not much was there.
“The level of disengagement on display is deeply shocking,” Moro wrote.
“Venezuela’s domestic media blackout is joined by a parallel international blackout, one born not of censorship but of disinterest and inertia. It’s hard to express the sense of helplessness you get looking through these pages and finding nothing. Venezuela burns; nobody cares.
“Let me put this clearly. Y’all need to step it up. The time to discard what you thought you knew about the way things work in Venezuela is now.”
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