US rallies UN as Venezuela deploys troops in unrest

VENEZUELA’S government said on Wednesday it was sending troops to a region rocked by violence during antigovernment protests, as Washington rallied the UN Security Council to prevent conflict in the country.

The death of a 15-year-old boy brought the toll from weeks of protests in Venezuela to 43 – a sad milestone that matched the number killed in the last comparable wave of unrest, in 2014.

Looting and attacks against security installations erupted overnight in the state of Tachira, which borders Colombia, authorities said. The state prosecution service said on Twitter the boy was killed “during a demonstration” there.

“I have ordered the transfer of 2 000 guards and 600 special operations troops” to Tachira, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on state television channel VTV.

The United States warned at the United Nations that Venezuela’s crisis was worsening and could escalate into a civil conflict like that of Syria.

Following Security Council talks, US Ambassador Nikki Haley called for countries to send a message to Maduro.

“We’ve been down this road – with Syria, with North Korea, with South Sudan, with Burundi, with Burma,” she told reporters.

“The international community needs to say ‘respect the human rights of your people’ or this is going to go in the direction we’ve seen so many others go.”

She earlier warned that Venezuela was “on the verge of humanitarian crisis”.

Brazil’s Defence Minister Raul Jungmann told reporters on Wednesday his country was making contingency plans for a possible influx of Venezuelan migrants.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, however, said on Twitter that the United States was out to topple the Venezuelan government.

“The United States has shed light on the plan it is leading to intervene in Venezuela,” she said. “Other countries [at UN headquarters] put it loudly and clearly: Venezuela is no matter for the UN to address.”

Clashes have erupted across the country during protests in anger at Maduro’s handling of an economic and political crisis.

Protesters are demanding early elections and accuse him of trying to cling to power. — AFP

Picture: AFP ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Opposition activists place candles to protest against the deaths of 43 people in clashes with the police during weeks of demonstrations against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro