• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Latin America

Venezuela's Public Ministry to Investigate Protest Deaths

  • An explosion injured seven police officers and burnt four motorcycles on Sunday.

    An explosion injured seven police officers and burnt four motorcycles on Sunday. | Photo: Reuters

Published 30 July 2017
Opinion

Over 100 people have died in violent opposition protests since April, including dozens who were burnt alive.

Venezuela's Public Ministry announced that it will open a probe into the six deaths reported Sunday as a result of the violent protests staged by sectors of the opposition to derail elections for the National Constituent Assembly.

RELATED:
Voting Continues in Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly: Live Updates

The attorney general's office of the state of Tachira will be in charge of investigating the deaths of two teenagers, aged 13 and 17, who were shot in the towns of Tucape and Capacho Viejo.

The deaths occurred during the protests, not during the electoral process related to the Constituent Assembly, said Jorge Rodriguez, head of the strategy for the Constituent's campaign, in a press conference.

The Public Ministry reported four more deaths, including a member of the National Guard who was shot to death in Tachira. In Merida, three citizens were killed: Luis Zambrano, 43, Angelo Mendez, 28, and Eduardo Olave, 39. All the deaths will be investigated.

In addition, seven police officers were injured during a violent ambush on Altamira Square in the upper-class district of Chacao in Caracas, burning four motorcycles.

A loud explosion hit the police officers as they were patrolling in the neighborhood, according to a video released on Twitter, with opponents applauding the attack.

"Explosive artifact surprises members of the Nation Guard in the Plaza Altamira."

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced that 21 officers were injured by firearms, while 200 polling stations were attacked on Sunday.

“Today we are entering a new stage to guarantee the peace for the Venezuelan people,” he said, adding that “today's violence was due to right-wing opposition's call to violence.”

"Twenty-one officials were injured by firearms in different violent acts that we are investigating."

Opposition leader and President of the National Assembly Julio Borges warned Sunday that violence and terrorism would increase across the country in the coming days.

"Tomorrow will initiate a new phase of the struggle; the democratic protest will go deeper. The government will have to face the civil disobedience across the country, and the ungovernability," he said in a press conference.

Hardliners in the opposition, as part of the United Democratic Roundtable or MUD, have refused to recognize the Constituent Assembly as an initiative to reach a peaceful solution to the current political crisis, staging daily protests meant to topple the government.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.