Photography series: Amidst the protests (2017) // Entry N'1

Good evening.

I had this idea since some time ago and tonight I decided I'm making a series of photographs I took during the protests of last year, here in Venezuela.

To set you in context

Let me explain you what's going on in the country that, in 2017, millions of outraged people maintained the streets full, resisting violence, for six months straight:

• Venezuela's democratic forms of government no longer exist;

• Crime rates are around 30.000 homicides every year, amongst robbery, vandalism, and all forms of delinquency, leading to the citizens to a a life in a heavy state of permanent insecurity.

• Inflation ended in 2.616% last year and the International Monetary Fund predicts it will hit 13.000% in 2018. The incomes of the average Venezuelan are at much less than a daily dollar (10 cents, approximately) as prices of many goods and services commonly rise up to a 100% daily.

• There is scarcity in food, medicine and all kinds of goods;

• There is corruption in all spheres of power of the country;

• There are systematic tortures and all forms of abuses and violations of the human rights by the State;

• There is political prosecution;

• There are paramilitary groups created by the State to intent to terrorize the inhabitants of the country and, by intimidation, stopping them to protest;

• There is no more rule of law;

• Venezuelan society convulses in all imaginable ways.

In six months of massive manifestations:

• 135 people died violently, 80 of them murdered by firearms;
• More than 2000 people were arrested by the government, from which at least 275 were processed in corrupted military courts violating law and their fundamental rights, as referred by a long series of worldwide human rights institutions and organizations;
• About 15.000 people were wounded.

This recognized Venezuelan digital media made a report compiling a lot of information of the human outcome of those months. Click there if you want to have more information on those specific cases.

Amidst the protests (2017)

During 2017, I went to around fifty protests at Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. I had to run, I had to hide, I had to breathe lots of tear gas and registered plenty audiovisual material of what occurred there. This series number of entries is undefined, yet for sure I'll keep on posting photographs of it in a regular basis. The name of each picture of this project will appear bottom line of them.

Thank you for sticking around! Here goes the first photograph of the series:

"Observation", photograph by @Alejohannes

If you wanna know more of the moments these were taken, the context of the protests, the situation of Venezuela, or anything else, don't hesitate to ask on the comments!

And keep an eye on my blog here on Steemit for regular updates and much more content.

Best for you all,

///// @Alejohannes