page_title: Timeline of the 2014 Venezuelan protests
section_title: February
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the 2014 Venezuelan protests / February
caption_attribution_description: English: March 12F in Margarita Island
context_page_description: The 2014 Venezuelan protests began in February 2014 when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protested due to high levels of criminal violence, inflation, and chronic scarcity of basic goods because of policies created the Venezuelan government. The protests have lasted for several months and events are listed below according to the month they had happened.
context_section_description: 1 February – Leopoldo Lopez called upon students to protest peacefully against the scarcity, insecurity, and shortages.
  2 February – Opposition leaders call for a march on 12 February for National Youth Day.
  4 February – Protests at the University of the Andes occurred due to insecurity and an attempted sexual assault of a student.
  5 February – Student protests at the Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt, where the principal avenues of Caracas were blocked alleging insecurity of the students during the night shift
  6 February – Students at the Catholic University of Táchira protested and were accused of attacking a residence.
  7 February – Medical students in Tachira continue to protest peacefully.
  8 February – Students from the University of the Andes protested outside the headquarters of SEBIN where students were being held arrested.
  9 February – Women dressed in black to protest against the arrests that happened in Tachira.
  11 February – Students in Táchira, Zulia, Caracas and Coro protested for the release of fellow students.
  12 February – Major opposition protests began with student marches led by opposition leaders in 38 cities across Venezuela simultaneous with the national celebrations for the bicentennial year anniversary of Youth Day and the Battle of La Victoria. After the protests, smaller groups remained and threw stones at government forces. The protests turned more violent after government security forces and "colectivos" allegedly used excessive force on protesters and supposedly shot at groups of unarmed people. Bassil Da Costa was the first protester to die after getting a bullet to the head. Later that day, another protester, Robert Reddman, and a pro-government activist were also killed in Caracas. President Maduro blamed "fascist" groups for the deaths caused that day, including opposition leader Leopoldo López, during his closing address in the Youth Day parade that evening in La Victoria, Aragua state. The Colombian news channel NTN24 was taken off the air by CONATEL (the Venezuelan government agency appointed for the regulation, supervision and control over telecommunications) for "promoting violence and unacknowledging authorities".
  13 February – Following the death of a colectivo member Juan "Juancho" Montoya, members of colectivos "went on television to call for calm and called for the arrest of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Judge Ralenys Tovar Guillén accepts the Public Ministry's petition to detain Leopoldo López in connection with the unrest that resulted in the death of the colectivo leader and two students. President Maduro organized pro-government demonstrations to counter the opposition and announced that violent anti-government protests are prohibited. Government supporters gathered outside the headquarters of the Public Ministry a day after it was attacked. Seven universities in Venezuela cancelled Youth Day programs due to the large involvement of student protesters. The governor of the Aragua state, Tarek El Aissami, denounced that opposition groups attempted to burn the governorate, attacked the Girardot Municipality town hall, burned a vehicle and wounded ten police officers the previous day. Likewise, The Minister of Ground Transport, Haiman El Troudi, denounced that the ministry headquarters were attacked during the night of the protests. According to Vielma Mora, there was an attempt to take over the electric substation Santa Teresa and destroy a sport school, and the front and a bus of the Bolivarian University of Venezuela were attacked in Táchira. In Valencia, protesters were dispersed by the National Guard in El Trigál where four students (three men and one woman) were attacked inside of a car while trying to leave the perimeter; the three men were imprisoned and one of them was allegedly sodomized by one of the officers with a rifle.
  14 February – Students protested outside the Organization of American States in Venezuela asking them for action against the violence. Opposition protesters blocked the Francisco de Miranda avenue in Caracas asking for the release of students ar
caption: Anti-government demonstration on Margarita Island.
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