a protest against Nicolás Maduro; a street blockade used in protest against the government, often set on fire; a social building, specifically to protect children from bad weather; a "safe" location in children's chasing games
“En febrero de 2014 fue el epicentro de las protestas sociales, llamadas guarimbas, contra el Gobierno de Nicolás Maduro que durante tres meses se extendieron a otras ciudades venezolanas y pusieron en jaque la gobernabilidad del país.” — In February 2014 it was the epicentre of the social protests, called guarimbas, against the Nicolás Maduro government that had been extending to other Venezuelan cities for three months and keeping the governance of the country in check.
Of Germanic origin, from Frankish *warjan, related to guarecer and garita. In 2014, the Nicolás Maduro government began using the word with its current definition, referring to opposition protests that they thought were childish. For Maduro supporters, the word has strongly negative connotations. However, it has been used to refer to street barricades since at least 2005, stemming from the equivalent in children's games, with the barricades originally considered places of refuge from protesting,