*Venezuelan security forces and demonstrators faced off in streets blocked by burning barricades in several provincial cities on Thursday as protests escalated against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government. At least five people have died since the violence broke out last week, the most serious unrest since Maduro was narrowly elected in April 2013. There have been scores of injuries and arrests. The protesters, mostly students, want Maduro to resign, and blame his government for violent crime, high inflation, product shortages and alleged repression of opponents…* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from ANDREW CAWTHORNE AND DANIEL WALLIS / Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/20/us-venezuela-protests-idUSBREA1J1BX20140220