TODAY VENEZUELA – This year, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro was burnt instead of Judas, in the religious Easter tradition of the “quema de Judas” (burning of Judas).
All over Venezuela, rag dolls with the faces of the country’s dictatorship were set ablaze while law enforcement worked to prevent the tradition from taking place.
Each Easter Sunday, Venezuelans participate in the religious tradition, but this year it was an opportunity for the Venezuelan opposition to protest Maduro and his allies.
Venezuelans burnt dolls of Supreme Court judges, Venezuelan politician Tarek William Saab, Director of the CNE Tibisay Lucena and several governors and mayors who sympathize with Chavez’s legacy.
Several political parties opposing Maduro invited people to gather with their effigies so as to hold a joint burning in important areas across various cities.
In the state of Vargas, Governor Jorge García Carneiro, who sympathizes with the Maduro regime, ordered state police to collect all Judas dolls dressed like him and Maduro, as well as to prevent any other traditional burnings. In the state of Miranda, similar events took place, as security personnel was deployed to prevent the tradition from taking place.
