2018 Photo Contest, Spot News, 1st prize

Venezuela Crisis

Photographer

Ronaldo Schemidt

Agence France Presse

03 May, 2017

José Víctor Salazar Balza (28) catches fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela.

President Maduro had announced plans to revise Venezuela’s democratic system by forming a constituent assembly to replace the opposition-led National Assembly, in effect consolidating legislative powers for himself. Opposition leaders called for mass protests to demand early presidential elections. Clashes between protesters and the Venezuelan national guard broke out on 3 May, with protesters (many of whom wore hoods, masks or gas masks) lighting fires and hurling stones. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns.

About the photographer

Ronaldo Schemidt

Ronaldo Schemidt (b. 1971) began his career in photojournalism in Mexico in 2000, after studying anthropology in Venezuela.  Since 2006, he has been a staff member of Age...

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/800
Focal length
24.0 mm
F-Stop
7.1
ISO
400

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