Shocking scenes from Caracas’s Southwest poured through on Social Media last night. The harsh new spasm of violence will have political repercussions we can only guess at.

The commotion centered El Valle. It’s one of the city’s toughest, most violent shantytowns.

In the daytime, it looks like this:



Here’s a closer look:

Hillside slums fringing a formally constructed —but hardscrabble— strip at the bottom of the valley. The whole thing is just across the highway from Fuerte Tiuna, Caracas’s main military base. Poor areas like this have borne the brunt of the economic crisis, with food distribution spotty and hunger trends off the charts. Couple this with a very active and extremely violent criminal underworld, and the potential for trouble is clear.

It’s hard to tell exactly how it all started last night. It can be baffling trying to piece together a sequence of events in a country with no free media. The night was a whirl of blurry videos, shared Whatsapp Voice Notes of uncertain provenance, audio clips of almighty firefights, and far too much uncertainty.

From what we’re able to make out, at around 10:30 p.m., people began to stream down into the commercial area to loot shops.

This, if you’re wondering, is what looting looks like when it’s about to happen in the building where you live:

https://twitter.com/EnkiVzla/status/855335648831471617

The security forces went out in numbers:

Police forces enters El Valle in Caracas, Venezuela after heavy protests against Maduro dictatorial government. Protesters run from gunshots pic.twitter.com/GNkfIP0AwV — Behind The News (@Behind__News) April 21, 2017

There are many reports on social media that show government-linked paramilitaries were sent alongside the security forces to confront the looters. What all reports coincide on is that there was an immense amount of gunfire as a result:

Repudiamos ataques violentos por parte de la GNB y colectivos en el Valle. Es su deber GARANTIZAR LA seguridad del pueblo, no quebrantarla pic.twitter.com/nO6giSb7Cg — Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) April 21, 2017

#ElValle #22Abril 12:38 am

Bien Maduro! Y los que te apoyaban en los edificios ahora te odian. Eres un genio!!!pic.twitter.com/o11zCw8oVT — Luis Ola (@LuisOla) April 21, 2017

Barricades

A series of small, burning barricades were set up throughout the area to try to cut off the paramilitaries and security forces. Much of the area looked like this:

Habitantes de El Valle, av. Victoria, La Urbina y Los Teques reportan fuerte represión la noche de este jueves https://t.co/iKQZRpWeOC pic.twitter.com/tYvVIUuaUa — NTN24 Venezuela (@NTN24ve) April 21, 2017

#FOTOS Reportan violenta represión de la GNB en El Valle https://t.co/iKQZRpEDX4 pic.twitter.com/4x3Enxa8G5 — NTN24 Venezuela (@NTN24ve) April 21, 2017

#21Abr El Valle fuerte represión contra el pueblo – @PERIODISTA1809 pic.twitter.com/FxTL2q9B7X — Reporte Ya (@ReporteYa) April 21, 2017

El Valle’s “Hospital Materno Infantil” was right by the looting, with many reports of tear gas wafting into maternity wards. Awful

Dirigente vecinal de UNT Eleazar Guerrero: "el Materno Infantil de El Valle tuvo que ser evacuado por los gases de las bombas de la GNB". — César Miguel Rondón (@cmrondon) April 21, 2017

52 personas afectadas en el Materno Infantil de El Valle por gases lacrimógenos, fueron atendidos por @paramedicosmtt y @PCivil_Ve #Caracas — Darvinson Rojas (@DarvinsonRojas) April 21, 2017

All this within earshot of Fuerte Tiuna.

On the Tsunami of military-linked rumors that accompanied all this we won’t say much, because they’re virtually impossible to confirm. There are some pictures going around of area civilians congregating on the highway that separates the Fort from El Valle proper, apparently chavistas defending it.

Still, it can’t have been a very restful night there.

The Aftermath

And here’s a sense of what El Valle looks like this morning. (Photos by Joe Codallo).