Venezuelan government opponents burn a doll with the faces of Putin and Maduro on April 17, 2022 in Caracas as part of the traditional “Judas training” AFP
A fourheaded doll containing the faces of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was burned during “Judas Training” this Sunday (17) in Caracas, one of Venezuela’s biggest Holy Week traditions.
The doll which also bore the faces of Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez and Electric Energy Minister Néstor Reverol was burned by about 30 residents of La Candelaria, a neighborhood in the center of the Venezuelan capital, who were also shown Signs with messages of protest and criticism of the authorities.
“We burned treason, we burned torture, we burned dictatorship and we burned war!” exclaimed resident Carlos Julio Rojas as he set the doll on fire.
In Venezuela, “Judas training” is usually related to political or controversial issues seen as betrayal of the population, such as power outages and Covid19. It’s the way the locals portray the episode where Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus in exchange for some coins.
The Judas of this group of residents was baptized as “Vladimir and the sons of Putin: Maduro, Meléndez and Reverol” because he was “the reflection of the treason of Caracas, Venezuela and the world”.
“We see Vladimir Putin not only waging a war that kills thousands, we see how [ele] it is one of the pillars for maintaining the dictatorship in Venezuela,” said Rojas, alluding to the military conflict in Ukraine.
The “workout” took place on one of the streets where some antigovernment protesters died during the 2014 protests, resulting in more than 40 deaths.