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ePaper created 2015-11-10, 17:27:36 | version 1.33.00
REDACTED Page 48 of 190 presenting no valuable evidence. The video mentioned Álvaro Uribe, Leopoldo López and government critic cartoonist Roberto Weil, among others.167 Starting in June, the protests started to decrease gradually, both in number and intensity, until the end of the year. (b)The 2015 protests and new incidents of repression In 2015, although the incidents of violence against the protestors decreased with the reduced number of demonstrations, the persecution against students, private media, journalists, demonstrators, businessman and political figures through murder, imprisonment and other crimes against the humanity persisted with the same intensity. At the beginning of 2015, following a fall in the oil prices which affected the national economy on a huge scale and produced one of the worst economic crises in Venezuelan contemporary times, the GoV accused the private economic sector of being a part of an “economic war” which seek to “reduce or limit the offer of essential massive products” with the aim of generating scarcity “to bother the population.”168 This concept of "economic war" has been constantly referenced by all the GoV owned media, which has also targeted the private sector and blamed it for the scarcicity. 169 As a result, the GoV has arrested, investigated and harassed many entrepreneurs and businessmen, and in some cases occupied their companies without paying any compensation. This was the case of big companies such as Farmatodo, Día a Día Practimercados, Zuly Milk, Distribuidora Herrera and Alimentos Polar. At least 20 business owners and senior employees have been charged with boycott,170 which is a 167 MADURADAS. (2014) ¿HASTA CUÁNDO LA BURLA? Maduro relaciona asesinato de Serra con sinfín de opositores 168 The shortages are deliberately caused primarily by opposition sectors and private enterprises in order to cause destablization. teleSUR at the following address: TELESUR. (2015) The Truth Behind Shortages in Venezuela. Telesur. [Online] 22 January. Available from: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/telesuragenda/Economic-War-on-Venezuela-20150122-0033.html [Accessed 23 October, 2015]; VTV. (2014) Claves para entender la “guerra económica” en Venezuela. Venezolana de Televisión. [Online] 16 January. Available from: http://www.vtv.gob.ve/articulos/2014/01/16/claves-para-entender-la-guerra-economica-en- venezuela-video-9684.html [Accessed 23 October, 2015] 169 MV. (2015) Guerra Económica. Misión Verdad. [Online] 21 October. Available from: http://misionverdad.com/etiquetas/guerra-economica [Accessed 23 October, 2015]; TELESUR. (2015) Claves: Quiénes están detrás del acaparamiento en Venezuela? Telesur. [Online] 13 January. Available from: http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Claves-Quienes-estan-detras-del-acaparamiento-en- Venezuela-20150113-0035.html [Accessed 23 October, 2015] 170 EL MUNDO. (2015) Más de 20 empresarios han sido acusados por boicot. El Munido [Online] 23 March. Available from: http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/judicial/mas-de-20- empresarios-han-sido-acusados-por-boicot.aspx [Accessed 23 October, 2015]; ESCOTE, O.L. (2015) Empresarios “desfilan” por el Sebin. 2001.com. [Online] 2 April. Available from: