Doctors march in Venezuela

OPPOSITION WANTS MADURO OUT AMID SHORTAGES OF FOOD, MEDICAL SUPPLIES President claims a coup against him with US backing as angry crowds protest.

Doctors rallied in Venezuela in the latest street protests against President Nicolas Maduro, as a young man lay in hospital after being set on fire by an angry crowd.

Three people were killed, all of them by gunshot wounds, in violent riots in late president Hugo Chavez’s home state of Barinas – bringing the death toll to 51 as the unrest entered its eighth week, the public prosecution service said.

An AFP reporter saw demonstrators burn a government office and a police car in Barinas.

Fresh clashes also broke out between protesters and police on the outskirts of Caracas, where demonstrators barricaded streets.

After marches by various civil groups, it was the turn of the Venezuelan Medical Federation to vent its frustrations in the streets.

About 20 000 of its sympathisers marched towards the health ministry in Caracas. Police fired tear gas to drive them back.

“The country is verging on catastrophe. The health system is a disaster,” said Fernando Gudayol, a 50-year-old surgeon.

“One is always afraid to come out, but we will carry on doing it until there is a change.”

The opposition is demanding elections to remove Maduro. They blame him for an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food, medicine and basic supplies.

“A simple infection can turn into something serious for a lack of antibiotics and any kind of supplies,” said Eliecer Melear, a 41-year-old urologist.

Maduro’s supporters staged a counter-demonstration near the presidential palace. “What lack of medicine?” asked medical student Rangel Vegas, 31. “We are in the clinics giving a response to what communities need.”

Maduro’s government claims it was targeted by an international conspiracy.

The government side “is the victim of political and ideological persecution in Venezuela and internationally”, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said.

Maduro accuses the opposition of plotting a coup against him with US backing.

On Sunday, a man was beaten, doused in petrol and set alight during a protest in the capital Caracas. The government alleged he was attacked for being a Maduro supporter. The president identified the man as Orlando Figuera, 21. – AFP