2 killed amid massive anti-government marches in Venezuela
CARACAS, VENEZUELA >> Two people were shot dead as opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities Wednesday, battling security forces in what’s been dubbed the “mother of all marches” against the embattled socialist leader.
Carlos Romero, just three days away from his 18th birthday, was walking to play soccer with friends when he bumped into pro-government militias stalking a pocket of protesters, family spokesman Melvin Sojo told The Associated Press, based on the accounts of two people who rushed Romero to the hospital after he was hit by gunfire.
“This was supposed to be a happy moment but instead I came home to see my brother die,” said Sojo, who grew up in the Romero home and returned Tuesday from Ecuador, where he had been living the past year.
There was no immediate confirmation that the militias shot the boy, and some government officials cast doubt on the account, saying Romero was killed during an attempted assault.
In the western city of San Cristobal, a 23-yearold woman identified as Paola Ramirez was shot dead by similar groups, according to Mayor Patricia Gutierrez, who said the groups circled demonstrators on motorcycles as they were heading home from the demonstration.
The two killings bring to seven the death toll since protests began three weeks ago over the Supreme Court’s decision to strip the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers, a move that was later reversed but not before enraging the opposition and causing a storm of international criticism. The charges of increasing government authoritarianism come against the backdrop of an ever-deepening economic crisis.
In Caracas, tens of thousands of angry protesters converged from 26 different points round the capital to attempt to march downtown to the Ombudsman’s office. Like a halfdozen times previously, their progress was blocked by a curtain of tear gas and rubber bullets fired by riot police officers.
As night fell, a few thousand people were still gathered in a plaza in wealthy eastern Caracas as residents in nearby buildings banged pots and pans in a show of support. A group of youths with their faces covered tore down street signs and billboards for makeshift barricades. They then launched rocks and Molotov cocktails against lines of police and national guardsmen who responded with tear gas in cat-and-mouse skirmishes likely to last deep into the night.
At one point, dozens of protesters amassed on a highway fled a cloud of eye-searing tear gas by sliding down a long concrete causeway and into the Guaire River that traverses Caracas.
The Supreme Court’s decision energized Venezuela’s fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing disgust with Maduro over widespread food shortages, triple-digit inflation and rampant crime.
With its momentum renewed, the opposition is now pushing for Maduro’s removal and the release of scores of political prisoners. The government last year abruptly postponed regional elections the opposition was heavily favored to win and cut off a petition drive to force a referendum seeking Maduro’s removal before elections late next year.
Maduro, addressing supporters at a larger countermarch, seemed open to some sort of electoral showdown. He said he was “anxious” to see elections take place sometime “soon” and repeated his call for dialogue, saying he had a proposal he wanted to make the opposition.
“Today they attempted to take power by force and we defeated them again,” said Maduro.
Opposition marchers included Liliana Machuca, who earns about $20 a month holding two jobs teaching literature. Although she doesn’t expect change overnight, she said protesting is the only option the opposition has after what she says are scores of abuses committed by the government.
“This is like a chess game and each side is moving whatever pieces they can,” said Machuca, her face covered in a white, sticky substance to protect herself from the noxious effects of tear gas. “We’ll see who tires out first.”
A short block away, a sea of red-shirted government supporters marched by calmly, some dancing to a salsa band that tried to provide an air of normalcy to the otherwise tense political standoff that paralyzed Venezuela past few weeks.
Many were state workers like Leidy Marquez, who was bused in from Tachira state, on the other side of the country, along with coworkers at state-run oil giant PDVSA.
“The opposition is trying to provoke a conflict but they aren’t going to achieve their goal,” said Marquez, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the eyes of the late Hugo Chavez, a symbol of revolutionary zeal in Venezuela. has the