Venezuelan photographer Ronaldo Schemidt won on April 12, 2018 the World Press Award for the Photo of the Year. Ronaldo Schemidt is an AFP photographer living and working in Mexico City. He photographed José Victor Salazar Balza, a 28-year-old activist, during a demonstration against the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
The photographer captured a rare scene as brief as shocking. On May 3rd, 2017, the photographer follows a small group of protesters in a street in Caracas. The demonstrators managed to take a motorcycle from the police, became a trophy. But the tank of the vehicle explodes. The fire wins Salazar Balza. The 28-year-old was injured in the first and second degree but survived.
“I feel conflicting emotions. Said the photographer,” declared the photographer. “I have friends and my family there. I know like everyone else what Venezuela is going through.” The photographer returned to Venezuela to document the conflict undermining society and the country for two months last year.
