CARACAS, Venezuela - Three more people were reported dead in Venezuela as a result of anti-government protests even as supporters and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets Saturday.
A man identified as Jesus Orlando Labrador was killed by a gunshot in the chest Saturday in the southwestern city of Merida after a peaceful protest march, Mayor Carlos Garcia said.
On Friday, Argenis Hernandez was shot in the stomach by a motorist while he and a group of student protesters were manning a barricade on a highway outside Valencia. Hernandez was taken to a nearby hospital and died Saturday before dawn, local officials said.
In San Cristobal, the city that spawned the wave of unrest, bus driver Wilfredo Rey, 31, was shot Friday night after a group of Maduro supporters entered an anti-government neighborhood on motorcycles and began firing indiscriminately, said Sergio Vergara, who has been running San Cristobal’s government since Mayor Daniel Ceballos, an outspoken critic of Maduro, was arrested last week on charges of fomenting violence.
More than 30 people have been killed during five weeks of clashes between protesters and security forces who are sometimes joined by motorcycle-riding civilians loyal to Maduro’s socialist government. Hundreds more have been wounded and arrested.
The threat of violence didn’t deter thousands of Venezuelans from congregating peacefully in the capital, Caracas, and other cities Saturday to demand an end to the use of force against dissents by what opponents call Maduro’s “dictatorship.” The demonstrations come a little more than a month after the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, a leading voice of the opposition who had been urging Maduro to step down. He is charged with conspiracy and arson tied to the first wave of deadly protests.
A member of Lopez’s Popular Will party, Carlos Vecchio, addressed the crowd in defiance of an arrest order while Lopez’s wife, Lilian Tintori, read a letter written from jail by her husband in which he calls on Maduro to resign and open the door to national reconciliation.
Across the city, Maduro addressed a much smaller rally called by loyalist students to complain about arson attacks that have kept several universities closed for weeks.
Maduro has denounced the protests as part of a U.S.-backed, “fascist” conspiracy to stir up violence and oust him just a few months after his party prevailed in nationwide municipal elections.
“These Chuckys are direct descendants of the Nazis,” Maduro told the cheering crowd, referring to the diabolical toy doll of Hollywood horror-movie fame that he uses to taunt his opponents.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 03/23/2014