Angry Venezuela protesters take aim at Chavez statues, home
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Until recently, even as the economy cratered and Venezuelans abandoned support for President Nicolas Maduro, many in the socialist-run country continued to revere Chavez for standing up for the oil-rich nation's long-overlooked poor masses.
But that once solid reputation has begun to crumble as quickly as statues and monuments built to the late strongman have been toppled. As anti-government unrest has spread, claiming at least 48 lives and leaving hundreds injured, protesters have ripped from their pedestals statues honoring Chavez in at least five towns over the past month.
The latest incident took place Monday when a protest in the western city of Barinas turned violent and demonstrators torched a home where Chavez spent part of his childhood, opposition politicians in the city said.
During a day of violence in the city, in which at least three men were killed and 50 injured, it was unclear how the incident began or the extent of damage to the house — one of several, and hardly the best known — where a young Chavez lived during an itinerant upbringing marked by poverty.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/angry-venezuela-protesters-aim-chavez-statues-home-47585485