„There you have the face of fascism!“ Maduro said in a speech to the nation on Thursday night, showing photos and video of Lopez at Wednesday‘s protest in the capital Caracas, some of the footage set to doom-laden music.

„I tell these fugitives from justice: give yourselves up! … They should go behind bars,“ Maduro thundered, saying both the intellectual authors of the violence and those who fired shots had been identified by authorities.