These Are The Security Forces That Keep Venezuelan Strongman Maduro In Power

Demonstrators clash with riot police while ralling against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas. REUTERS/Christian Veron

The Guardian: ‘They are murderers’: special forces unit strikes fear in Venezuelans

Activists suspect Nicolás Maduro has tasked Faes with pacifying the city’s barrios in bid to snuff out protest in areas once considered the cradle of Chavismo

A flickering candle and 19 rose petals – one for every year he lived – adorn a shrine in what used to be the home of Alixon Pisani.

“We love you,” reads a note beside a black and white photograph of the recently killed teen.

It was 10pm on the night of 22 January when friends arrived outside with the news that Pisani was dead; gunned down as he demonstrated against Nicolás Maduro’s teetering regime in Catia, a traditionally working-class area of western Caracas.

“He was still just a boy,” said the woman who raised him, his aunt, Nivea Pisani.

“They are murderers … demons,” she said of her nephew’s killers. “He just went out to protest because we are going hungry. How many more will die if we carry on like this?”

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Update: Venezuela crisis: The 'colectivo' groups supporting Maduro (BBC)

WNU Editor: My one contact in Caracas calls these "special forces units and militias" Venezuela's version of the Gestapo.