Women take on the fight against Maduro

CARACAS

Thousands of women dressed in white marched in Venezuela’s capital on May 6 to keep pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, whose authority is being increasingly challenged by protests and deadly unrest.

Led by opposition leaders, lawmakers and Lilian Tintori - the wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez - the crowd carried flowers and placards denouncing “repression.”  

Police and soldiers initially prevented it from reaching the interior ministry. But the women - led by several lawmakers - eventually made it to the Interior and Justice ministries. 

“We are not going to be off the streets until we have set Venezuela free,” conservative opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said. “We beg the armed forces: don’t open fire on unarmed people.” 

Some women flashed their breasts in a pacifist move as some alongside Machado waved posters reading: “We have no firearms; just tits.”

Similar anti-Maduro rallies took place in other cities, including San Cristobal and Aragua.