Demonstrator Catches Fire
Spot News, third prize stories
May 3, 2017
A fellow demonstrator tries to help Victor Salazar, who caught alight after an explosion during a street protest is Caracas, Venezuela.
José Víctor Salazar Balza (28) caught fire after the gas tank on a motorcycle exploded, during a protest against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas. Violent clashes had broken out between demonstrators and the national guard. The motorcycle, belonging to a member of the national guard, was apparently being destroyed by protesters.
Accounts of the incident differ, but some say that an object thrown by protesters caused the gas tank to explode. Further reports maintain that Salazar’s clothing caught fire so readily because he was doused in petrol either by a bomb he was carrying, or that of a fellow protestor.
Salazar suffered severe burns to more than 70% of his body, but survived the incident.
Commissioned by
Agence France Presse
This image is collected in
Juan Barreto
Venezuela
Juan Barreto was born in 1974 in Caracas, where he grew up and began his professional career.
About the photographer
Juan Barreto
Juan Barreto was born in 1974 in Caracas, where he grew up and began his professional career.
Juan Barreto was born in 1974 in Caracas, where he grew up and began his professional career.
At the age of 17 he started working as an assistant at the photographic archive of one of Venezuela's leading newspapers where he began his career in photojournalism.
His work as a photojournalist has been dedicated mainly to the coverage of current events for Agence France-Presse, where he has worked since 1999 as a photographer and where he has published most of his work about the Venezuelan crisis over recent years.
Juan studied graphic and industrial design at the Perera Design Institute.
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