Bishop Enrique Pérez Lavado of Maturin reported that seminarians, priests, and some 700 people participating in the demonstration were besieged in the cathedral, with the military “trying to break their way inside,” according to the Venezuelan bishops’ conference on Twitter.
Soon after, Pérez reported that the soldiers had surrounded the church, with more than a thousand opposition demonstrators inside: “The National Bolivarian Army is guarding the entrances to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral where there are more than a thousand opposition supporters.
According to a report on Twitter by Radio Fe y Alegría, government supporters were also inside the cathedral. The station said that Father Samael Gamboa negotiated with the security forces for the people to leave in groups, “to guarantee their human rights.”
The people took refuge in the cathedral due to repression by the regime’s security forces and by pro-government groups.
During the protests, a group of demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling United Socialist Party in Maturín.
“After more than three hours trapped inside the Maturín cathedral, the group of opposition supporters managed to begin leaving” at 5:00 pm, Radio Fe y Alegría reported.
The opposition marches were supported by the Venezuelan bishops, some of whom participated. The marches marked the anniversary of a 1958 coup which overthrew dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez.
Firstly, seminarians, priests and bishops are supposed to follow Christ and by following Christ, they are not supposed to take part in politics. Yet, they asserted their rights when they are supposed to give up their rights and become martyrs. Did Christ Who stood before Pontius Pilate defend Himself or ask for a defense counsel?
Secondly, demonstrations are supposed to be civilized and peaceful, yet "a group of demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling United Socialist Party in Maturín." [2]
Thirdly, Venezuela is truly suffering economically. Who started this? Trying to find an answer, this blogger found this paragraph in an article dated March 12, 2015, entitled Why is the United States sanctioning Venezuela? [3] that is quoted below:
Lost amid the Iran kerfuffle this week was a curious decision by the Obama administration to declare Venezuela an “extraordinary threat to the national security” of the United States, in order to levy sanctions against individual Venezuelan leaders.
Right above a photograph of a graffiti-filled wall in the article quoted immediately above are these words: "We've got sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, diplomacy, and sanctions."
Will war break out in South America like what had occurred in Syria and in Iraq and in Libya? Many foreign leaders think they can fix Venezuela by giving the opposition support when they cannot even manage their own domestic oppositions effectively without conflicts.
What instigated all this suffering from Iraq to Syria to Libya and to Venezuela? Hunger for power and world domination? Satan? Are they not one and the same?
[1] https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2019/01/25/venezuelan-army-besieged-hundreds-of-protesters-in-maturin-cathedral/
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/03/12/why-is-the-united-states-sanctioning-venezuela-2/?utm_term=.2c27c34ab892
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