Venezuela’s opposition is not so innocent | Letters

Professor Jean Grugel, a scholar of Latin American politics and Labour member, calls on party members to condemn the violence of the Maduro government in Venezuela (Letters, 17 August). I am a Labour member, not a scholar, but have taken a serious interest in Venezuela for a long time. The response of the Venezuelan government to street protest looks restrained compared with what would happen in many other countries. Imagine, for example, the response in the US if “peaceful demonstrators” blocked all the roads around the White House and could only be moved by force. Opposition violence (improvised bomb attacks on the police, grenade attacks on government buildings, people burned alive in the streets) is however very clear though largely unreported in the mainstream media. The respectable opposition leaders are at best silent. I call on the UK government to condemn the violence of the opposition in Venezuela.
Brendan O’Brien
London

• Politics is comparative. When is the Conservative leader going to condemn Saudi Arabia for not tolerating any protests, for having neither elections nor voters, for its regular beheadings and for its bombing of Yemeni civilians?
Kevin Bannon
London

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