The streets of Venezuela have been choked with crowds for more than a week as students and opposition groups battle police in mass protests. But the once-peaceful demonstrations have taken a violent turn, resulting in five deaths, several injuries and scores of arrests.
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But there's a longer story behind these uprisings — one that has taken years to unfold.
Venezuela has been under a socialist government since Hugo Chavez took power in 1999, and now opposition leaders are pushing for a regime change after 15 years of what they call "Chavism." Chavez died last year, but his right-hand Nicolas Maduro took over, winning by a narrow, controversial margin in April's special elections.
However, the origin of this unrest has deep roots. Venezuela has seen a significant rise in violent crime in the last few years, making it one of the most dangerous places on Earth. One person is murdered every 21 minutes in the country, and the homicide rate has quadrupled since 1999, according to the nonprofit Venezuelan Violence Observatory.
Crime has hobbled the economy, which was already struggling since Chavez became President. Through the years, the former leader imposed socialist, anti-private sector policies that nationalized most of the economy. The reforms slowed down business and scared off external investments.
In the last few months, the situation has worsened. Serious food shortages have plagued the country for a year. Venezuela's currency exchange rate with the U.S. dollar has dropped from 8 to 1 at the time of Chavez's death, to its current rate of 87 to 1. Rating agencies have downgraded government bonds to "junk," and inflation is up to almost 60%, according to Bloomberg.

A woman with the symbol of the student protests, a white hand, painted on her face marches with fellow demonstrators to the General Prosecutors building in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 12.
Image: Alejandro Cegarra/Associated Press
With the country in such a dire economic situation, the only thing missing was a single spark to ignite the popular unrest.
Initially, the protesters were mainly students. They started in the Western state of Tachira after authorities arrested students who were advocating for better security. This triggered a ripple effect, and protesters assembled in both Tachira and in the neighboring state of Merida, which also ended with more clashes and arrests. Last Wednesday, the students called for protests in the capital city of Caracas.
Seeing an opening for political change, opposition groups joined the student movement. Maria Corina Machado, an opposition parliament member, and Leopoldo Lopez, a former mayor and now opposition leader, announced the formation of a non-violent movement to end Maduro's regime. They called it "The Exit." Once the protests moved from Tachira and Merida to Caracas, they quickly spread throughout the rest of the country. It's unclear how many people are protesting, but news outlets report demonstrations of tens of thousands of people.
But things turned violent on Feb. 12 when three people were shot and killed, as Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
It's unclear exactly who was responsible for the deaths, but the local newspaper Ultimas Noticias analyzed three videos and more than 100 pictures provided by witnesses. Its investigation concluded that a group of uniformed officers, from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), accompanied by people in civilian clothes, opened fire on the crowd.

Bolivarian National Police fire tear gas toward opposition demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 15.
Image: Alejandro Cegarra/Associated Press
To clamp down on the protests, the government deployed armed policemen. Paramilitary groups that formed in the Chavez years also joined; observers claim these groups are now out of official control.
"Chavism created a paramilitary monster that is now incapable of controlling," Paulina Gamus, a former member of the National Assembly, wrote in a Spanish-language op-ed.
Despite the fact that Machado and Lopez, the two prominent figures of "The Exit" movement, immediately condemned the violence and called for peaceful demonstrations, the government pointed the finger at them — particularly at Lopez.
President Maduro warned of a "fascist" coup, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Elias Juaua took it one step further, accusing Lopez of instigating the riot and being responsible for the three deaths. In a message on Twitter, he called Lopez a "murderer."
El fascismo se corta por la Cabeza. Nuestra Patria merece Paz y Vida. Leopoldo López asesino! Justicia Ya!
— Elias Jaua (@JauaMiranda) February 12, 2014
Lopez was then charged with murder and terrorism, and the government issued an arrest warrant on Feb. 13.
The government also tried to use its power grip on the media to promote its own version of the story. The official Venezuelan public television didn't broadcast the protest last week, and the satellite company DirecTV pulled NTN24, a Colombian-based cable news channel, from its listings.
The government even blocked NTN24's YouTube channel, according to El Pais. At that point, Venezuelans only had the Internet and Twitter to keep up with what was happening on the streets, although the government has blocked user from tweeting images, according to CNN en Español.

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez speaks during a press conference in on Feb. 26, 2013.
Image: Ariana Cubillos/Associated Press
Leopoldo Lopez has made himself the leader of the opposition. Lopez is a 42-year-old politician who was mayor of Chacao, an upper-class district in Caracas, from 2000 to 2008. In a way, Lopez symbolizes the opposite of what the socialist Chavez regime was all about. He's the descendant of a well-off family with roots in the colonial years, and he attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, graduating with a Master of Public Policy in 1996.
For the regime, he's a "patiquin" — a Venezuelan pejorative slang term used for young, spoiled rich kids. President Maduro publicly calls him "trono," a slang term for "drug addict," according to Periodista Digital.
The Venezuelan government barred Lopez from running for public office twice, once in 2008 and again in 2011. Despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the 2008 decision, saying it violated Lopez's political rights, the bar still stands.
Lopez has a strong social media presence, with a verified Twitter account with more than 2 million followers. That's where he's been addressing Venezuelans, calling for non-violent protests and even taunting President Maduro.
Te lo digo Maduro, eres un cobarde. Ni a mi familia ni a mi nos vas a doblegar. A mi famila: fuerza, los amo.
— Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez) February 16, 2014
"I'm telling you Maduro, you're a coward. You won't break neither me nor my family. To my family: courage, I love you," he wrote.
To avoid the arrest, Lopez went into hiding for days. However, he continued posting messages to Twitter and his YouTube channel.

"I'm still in Venezuela and I will keep fighting for a better country," he said in a video posted on Sunday.
Lopez on Monday called for yet another rally and announced he would turn himself in to authorities. The next day, tens of thousands of people reportedly showed up at Brion de Chacaito square in Caracas. Lopez emerged from the crowd, stood at the base of the statue of the 19th-century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti and addressed protesters. Supporters then carried him away for a few blocks, where he finally faced authorities for arrest.
In a theatrical turn of events, a pre-recorded video of Lopez showed up on his YouTube channel.
"If you're watching this video," said Lopez, sitting on a couch next to his wife, "it's because the Venezuelan state already issued an arrest warrant against me. Perhaps I'm already detained by the state security forces — arrested unjustly for dreaming of a better Venezuela."

Venezuela hasn't seen this kind of popular unrest for years, but this is not the first time someone tried to overthrow the government. In 2002, a coup d'etat that ousted Chavez for 47 hours was thwarted by military loyalist and popular support. At the time, Chavez accused the United States and Spain of conspiring to overthrow him. Machado and Lopez backed that failed coup.
Without military support, it will be hard for the unarmed student protesters to force a regime change, according to Reuters. Other South American countries — Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay — have already come out in support of Maduro's government.
The population, however, is divided. In the last week, regime followers have also demonstrated on the streets in support of President Maduro.
This article has been updated to reflect that the number of casualties is five, not three, as a previous version stated.
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