Armed with the rosary, sisters join Venezuela protests

Dominican Sr. Purificación Maldonado Fernández, 69, had already walked a few miles, sweating under the hot Caracas midday sun as the crowd around her grew to tens of thousands, with other protest groups joining her demonstration. Protesters shouted political chants and focused on reaching their final destination: government offices in downtown Caracas. Maldonado had just started speaking with a former student she had seen in the crowd when she heard the shots — hollow, popping sounds. Just above the masses on a highway overpass, she spotted their origin: Venezuela National Guard troops, previously unnoticed by the demonstrators, shot tear gas onto the thousands below. This was an ambush. "We were able to walk away a bit, but I was in the gas cloud, and I started to feel like I couldn't walk, I couldn't breathe, was vomiting, and I almost fainted," Maldonado said. More…