Tag Archives: Food Shortage

Venezuela opposition accuses security forces of robbing protesters

Venezuelan National Guard members take position while clashing with demonstrators rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Eyanir Chinea

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leaders on Tuesday accused security forces of assaulting and robbing demonstrators who participate in protests against President Nicolas Maduro.

Two videos distributed over social networks appear to show police and troops taking protesters’ possessions during rallies on Monday, spurring outrage among many Venezuelans who already complain of excessive use of force during the two months of protests.

Opposition legislators on Tuesday filed a complaint with the state prosecutors’ office against the police and the National Guard in relation to the alleged robberies.

Reuters could not independently verify the content of the videos. The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“(Interior Minister) Nestor Reverol gives them license to steal,” said legislator Juan Matheus, adding that the complaint includes accusations of cruel and inhumane treatment.

One video shows four police officers surrounding a woman who is reeling from the effects of tear gas, with one of the officers pulling what appears to be a watch from her wrist.

In another, troops take a protester’s helmet and handbag before boarding motorcycles.

The government says it is fighting opposition “terrorist cells” trying to overthrow Maduro.

They say the effort is similar to a 2002 coup that briefly ousted late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, noting that protesters routinely disrupt traffic and damage public property while mounting barricades of burning debris.

Legislators said during Tuesday’s congressional session that they had registered 16 attacks against journalists on Monday alone, with some 300 during the two months of protest. Ruling Socialist Party legislators did not attend the congressional session.

Francisco Zambrano, a journalist with website Runrun.es which is critical of the government, said in a telephone interview that troops had blocked his way when he attempted to run from a cloud of tear gas fired to disperse demonstrators.

“I identified myself as a journalist, but they still opened my bag, threw my things to the ground and searched my pockets,” said Zambrano. “I thought it was a regular procedure until they took out my cell phone and one of them kept it.”

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas, asked on Monday about an incident involving troops throwing a television camera off a highway, said the National Guard as an institution was being unfairly held responsible for actions by individuals.

“I know and have worked with men and women of the National Guard, who are honorable and are out there risking their lives. They have also been the victim of aggression,” he said during a televised interview.

The protests have left some 65 people dead and thousands injured.

The government is preparing an election at the end of July for a constituent assembly that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and potential dissolve state institutions.

Maduro’s critics call it a power grab meant to keep him power indefinitely.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons and Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Fourteen Venezuelan army officers jailed in first week of protests – documents

A demonstrator waves a Venezuela's flag while clashing with riot security forces during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela June 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Girish Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s security forces arrested at least 14 army officers on suspicion of “rebellion” and “treason” in the first week of protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government in early April, according to military documents obtained by Reuters.

The soldiers, who include colonels and captains, are being held in Ramo Verde prison in the hills outside Caracas, according to lists being circulated within the military.

The documents said their cases were being “processed”, and it was not clear if they had been formally charged.

The lists emerged after allegations by Venezuelan opposition leaders that a purge is underway within the military to quash dissent over the handling of massive demonstrations against the socialist government since early April.

The documents seen by Reuters only went up to April 8, after which opposition leaders and rights activists say many more soldiers have been rounded up.

The military’s National Guard unit has been at the forefront of policing the protests, using tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets against masked youths who hurl stones, Molotov cocktails and excrement against security lines.

At least 65 people have died, with victims including government and opposition supporters, bystanders and members of the security forces. Hundreds more have been injured.

Opposition leaders say there is increasing disquiet within the military over the use of force against protesters who are demanding general elections, foreign humanitarian aid and freedom for jailed activists.

In public, top military officers have backed Maduro’s accusation that an “armed insurrection” is being mounted by violent conspirators seeking a coup with U.S. backing.

But privately some National Guard members have complained of exhaustion and disillusionment.

ASYLUM REQUESTS

A few soldiers have gone public with their discontent.

Three lieutenants fled to Colombia and requested asylum last month, prompting the Venezuelan government to demand their extradition to face charges of coup plotting.

Opposition media last week published a video purporting to be a Venezuelan naval sergeant expressing his dissent and urging colleagues to disobey “abusive” and “corrupt” superiors.

“I reject Mr. Nicolas Maduro Moros as an illegitimate president and refuse to recognize his regime and dictatorial government,” Giomar Flores said in a seven-minute video, wearing a white naval uniform and black beret next to a Venezuelan flag.

Reuters could not confirm his case or whereabouts.

Neither the Information Ministry nor the Armed Forces responded to requests for information.

Late leader Hugo Chavez turned the military into a bastion of “Chavismo” after a short-lived coup against him in 2002.

Though Maduro, 54, does not hail from the army as Chavez did, he has kept ties strong, placing current or former soldiers in a third of ministerial posts, and giving them control over key sectors like food distribution.

Opposition leaders have been openly calling for the armed forces to disobey Maduro and side with their demands, but the top brass have repeatedly pledged loyalty.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Jonathan Oatis)

South Sudan refugees scrounge for scraps as rations slashed in Uganda camps

FILE PHOTO: South Sudanese refugees gather with their belongings after crossing into Uganda at the Ngomoromo border post in Lamwo district, northern Uganda, April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File photo

By Pacato Peter Obwot

PAGIRINYA, Uganda (Reuters) – Hunger is forcing desperate refugees from South Sudan to steal food from poverty-stricken locals in northern Uganda, residents say, after a funding crisis compelled the United Nations slash rations in refugee camps by half this month.

More than 875,000 refugees have fled into neighboring Uganda since South Sudan’s civil war broke out in 2013, and the cuts come nearly two months after the United Nations warned the situation was at breaking point.

Ugandans say they have caught hungry refugees taking crops, vegetables or livestock after the World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to cut monthly rations from 12 kg of maize a month to 6 kg.

“The refugees are stealing, they stole a goat at night and their foot marks were traced up to the camp,” said Otti John, 62, who lives near the northern Pagirinya refugee camp.

Another resident, Vukoni Scondo, 29, told Reuters three refugees were arrested for stealing pumpkins from her garden.

A parched and stony stretch of plateaus and savannah, Pagirinya hosts some 35,000 refugees about 30 km south of the border with South Sudan.

Camp authorities there say there has been no violence yet, but worry about clashes if stealing continues.

“These people will go to steal food from nationals and it can cause fights,” said Robert Baryamwesiga, camp commandant for Uganda’s Bidi Bidi, the world’s largest refugee camp.

Many refugees feel they have no choice. There is just not enough money to feed them, said Lydia Wamala, spokeswoman for the U.N. food agency in Uganda. WFP needs $109 million to provide full rations for the May-October period but so far has only received $49 million.

Food prices in East Africa have shot up due to a regional drought. The crisis has fueled widespread hunger in Somalia, parts of Kenya and Ethiopia and famine in South Sudan.

Africa’s youngest nation, South Sudan was sucked into civil war after President Salva Kiir fired his then vice president and rival, Riek Machar, in 2013.

A regionally mediated peace pact signed in 2015 failed within months. Massacres in the capital of Juba sparked violence across the country, fracturing it along ethnic lines.

More than 3 million people, a third of the population, have fled their homes, creating Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide.

Most refugees head to Uganda, which allows them free movement, the right to work and access public services such as education and healthcare. Around 85 percent of them are women and children.

But an average of 2,000 South Sudanese arriving every day since July has left aid agencies unable to cope, forcing some refugees back into the violence to feed their families.

An elderly man in Pagirinya said he knew of at least three families who had returned to their homes in South Sudan this month to seek food.

Refugee Peter Obore, 26, said would soon follow them since he could not feed his wife and their young baby. “I will also leave with all my four brothers and my wife,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kamapala; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Alison Williams)

Venezuela opposition leaders wounded in anti-government march

Riot security forces release jets of water from their water cannon on demonstrators during riots at a march to the state Ombudsman's office in Caracas, Venezuela May 29, 2017. The banner reads "The favorite Ron". REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS (Reuters) – Two Venezuelan opposition leaders were wounded on Monday by security forces dispersing protests in the capital Caracas against President Nicolas Maduro, according to one of the leaders and an opposition legislator.

Maduro’s adversaries have for two months been blocking highways and setting up barricades in protests demanding he call early elections and address an increasingly severe economic crisis that has left millions struggling to get enough to eat.

Fifty-nine people have died in the often violent street melees, which Maduro calls an effort to overthrow his government.

“We were ambushed,” said two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who accompanied protesters in an effort to march to the headquarter of the government ombudsman’s office but was blocked by security forces.

“This government is capable of killing or burning anything,” Capriles said in a press conference.

He said 16 others were injured in the march, adding that he would file a complaint about the issue with state prosecutors.

Legislator Jose Olivares, who is a doctor, tweeted a picture of a bruise on Capriles’ face that he said was the result of a soldier hitting him with a helmet during the clashes.

During the same march, opposition deputy Carlos Paparoni was knocked to the ground by a water cannon sprayed from a truck, requiring that he receive stitches in his head, Olivares said.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Corina Pons, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Civilians lack food, water, medicine as Mosul battle mounts: U.N.

A view of a part of western Mosul, Iraq May 29, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

By Maher Chmaytelli

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of civilians in parts of Mosul held by Islamic State are struggling to get food, water and medicine, the United Nations said, days into a new push by U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops to take the northern city.

Up to 200,000 people still live behind Islamic State lines in Mosul’s Old City and three other districts, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Lise Grande told Reuters late on Sunday.

She spoke a day after Iraq’s army said it had launched a new offensive to take the militant zones on the western side of the Tigris river.

Progress has been slow, an Iraqi government adviser told Reuters, also late on Sunday. “The fighting is extremely intense … the presence of civilians means we have to be very cautious,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

People who had managed to get out of the militant areas “report a dramatic situation including lack of food, limited water and severe shortages of medicines,” Grande said by phone.

“We know that there have been health facilities in these areas, but we don’t know whether they are still functioning.”

Government forces have been dropping leaflets over the districts telling families to flee – but many have remained fearing getting caught in the cross-fire.

“We have been informed by authorities that the evacuation is not compulsory … If civilians decide to stay … they will be protected by Iraqi security forces,” said Grande.

“People who choose to flee will be directed to safe routes. The location of these will change depending on which areas are under attack and dynamics on the battlefield,” she added.

The latest Iraqi government push is part of a broader offensive in Mosul, now in its eighth month. It has taken longer than planned as the militants are dug in among civilians, retaliating with suicide car and motorbike bombs, booby traps, snipers and mortar fire.

Its prime target is the medieval Grand al-Nuri mosque with its landmark leaning minaret in Mosul’s Old City, where Islamic State’s black flag has been flying since mid-2014.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the “caliphate” declared nearly three years ago by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a speech at the mosque.

About 700,000 people, about a third of the pre-war city’s population, have already fled, seeking refuge either with friends and relatives or in camps.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Venezuela military defends protests role, backs Maduro congress

A firefighter walks past burned debris at the Ombudsman office in Maracaibo, Venezuela May 25, 2017. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Decried by protesters as “murderers” defending a dictator, Venezuela’s military insisted on Thursday it was not taking sides in the national political turmoil, though it did back socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s controversial plan for a new congress.

The armed forces’ National Guard unit has played a pivotal role in two months of unrest rocking Venezuela, often blocking marches and using teargas and water cannons to fight youths hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.

At least 57 people have been killed, including one National Guard member and two policemen.

The military defended its record during the protests, in which Maduro opponents have staged daily demonstrations demanding elections, humanitarian aid to offset a brutal economic crisis, and freedom for jailed activists.

“The Bolivarian National Armed Forces have made a superlative effort to keep the peace, protect life as a fundamental right, and keep institutional stability,” it said in a statement.

The communique was a response to Chief State Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who on Wednesday accused security forces of excessive force against protesters. She said one student was killed by a tear gas cannister fired from close range by a National Guard.

The military statement said Ortega’s “pre-qualification” and “hypothesis” were damaging to soldiers’ morale, and fodder for “the negative public opinion right-wing groups” want to spread.

The death of Juan Pernalete, 20, has become a rallying cry for protesters. But senior officials have suggested the student was killed by someone within opposition ranks using a pistol as a way to discredit the government.

The armed forces statement said officers had absolutely respected rights, behaved with “stoicism” and “sacrifice”, and had shown restraint under verbal and physical aggression including seven attacks on military installations.

“In no way are partisan positions adopted,” it added, noting that any “excesses” or “irregularities” were punished.

According to the government, 17 National Guard officers and seven policemen have been arrested over deaths during the protests.

STREET STRESS

Thursday’s statement backed the president’s plan to create a super-body, known as a Constituent Assembly, with powers to re-write the constitution and supersede other institutions in the oil-producing country.

Maduro accuses foes of seeking a coup with U.S. help and says the assembly is needed to bring peace. But opponents argue it is a ploy to stay in power by setting up a congress filled with government supporters.

Polls show the ruling Socialists would lose any conventional election, and the opposition’s main demand is to bring forward the 2018 presidential vote.

“The National Constituent Assembly … represents a space to find solutions to our problems with understanding, harmony and brotherhood,” the military said.

A key power-broker in the past, including during a short-lived 2002 coup against former leader Hugo Chavez, the military’s role is seen as crucial. Opposition leaders hope it may withdraw support for Maduro as the unrest drags on.

On the street, soldiers often stand impassive behind riot shields as protesters harangue them, or as women sometimes offer flowers. When crowds try to pass their security cordons, fighting starts and can last hours, with stones, excrement, bottles and petrol bombs thrown at them.

In private, some low-ranking National Guard members have admitted they are exhausted, fed up with being the first line against protesters, and suffering the same economic problems as much of the population.

“I’m shattered, brother. Do you think I want to be here?” said one National Guard member at a recent protest, briefly sitting on a wall after he and colleagues sent scores of protesters fleeing with a volley of tear gas cannisters.

Security forces are also finding that low salaries and opposition to Maduro are hurting their recruiting and retention efforts, sources in or close to the armed forces and police have told Reuters.

Opposition leaders say dozens of dissenting military members have been arrested in recent weeks, though there is no confirmation of that, and in public the armed forces’ leaders are standing firm behind the unpopular Maduro.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte; Editing by Frances Kerry)

As Venezuela unrest spreads, Maduro presses on with plans to rewrite charter

Demonstrators stand near a truck as they use it as a barricade while clashing with riot security forces during a rally called by healthcare workers and opposition activists against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Faced with mounting unrest, Venezuela’s unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Tuesday to push ahead in July with the formation of a “constituent assembly” to rewrite the constitution before regional elections in December.

The South American OPEC member has been racked by strife, with 55 people killed during unrest in the past two months as public anger boiled over due to an economic meltdown that has left many Venezuelans scrabbling to afford three meals a day.

In an apparent bid to show the government was seeking a democratic solution, the head of the pro-government electoral council said voting for a controversial “constituent assembly” would be held in late July.

Regional gubernatorial elections, meant to have been held last year, would take place on Dec. 10, he said.

The opposition reacted with fury, convinced that these moves were Maduro’s way of clinging to power.

Maduro’s rivals fear that a new constituent assembly could rewrite rules or exclude opposition parties, making a sham of future elections that would likely vanquish the ruling socialists if the polls were free and fair.

“Today’s decision is nothing more than an evil announcement meant to divide, distract, and confuse Venezuelans further,” said Congress president Julio Borges, the opposition leader whose coalition is pushing for early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists.

“Today we’ve entered a new stage and that means more struggle and more street action,” Borges said in a video on Tuesday night.

Riots and looting have raised risks that protests could spin out of control, given the widespread hunger, anger at Maduro and easy access to weapons in one of the world’s most violent countries.

A Supreme Court magistrate decried the planned assembly, saying it was “not the solution to the crisis” and called on Maduro to “think carefully” to avoid more bloodshed.

Maduro was undaunted on Tuesday, presenting the proposed 540-member “constituent assembly” as a way to defuse anti-government protests, which he says are part of a U.S.-backed conspiracy to overthrow “21st Century socialism.”

“Votes or bullets, what do the people want?” Maduro asked a crowd of red-shirted supporters waving Venezuelan flags at the Miraflores presidential palace.

“Let’s go to elections now!” he said, before detailing how the new assembly will be partially elected by votes at a municipal level and partially by different groups, including workers, farmers, students, and indigenous people.

In a telling sign of internal dissent, Venezuela’s state prosecutor warned that Maduro’s plan for a grassroots congress risked deepening the crisis.

“Persistent and increasingly violent unrest will eventually prompt key stakeholders to abandon Maduro and negotiate a rapid transition that sets a timetable for new elections; the precise timing is impossible to predict, however,” the Eurasia Group political consultancy said in a note to clients on Tuesday.

“DESPERATE PEOPLE”

Enraged by the economic crisis and perceived lack of democratic solutions, some Venezuelans have taken out their ire by publicly shaming government officials or knocking down statues of Hugo Chavez, the late firebrand leftist leader who governed Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.

In the southeastern city of Puerto Ordaz, the president of a state-run company was “kidnapped,” beaten up, and stripped naked by protesters, the government said.

In the lower middle-class Caracas neighborhood of El Paraiso, masked men on Monday night shot up an apartment building and parked cars in what one resident, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisals, said was retaliation for barricades set up nearby by opposition sympathizers.

Hundreds of people have been injured in the violence, around 2,700 arrested, with 1,000 still behind bars, and 335 tried in military tribunals, according to rights groups.

Looting has become more frequent, with many Venezuelans reduced to surviving on basics like yucca or corn flour.

In the usually calm peninsula of Paraguana, a food warehouse was looted on Sunday night. Some 17 people were arrested.

“The rumors started that they were going to sell something, so everyone came out and started to beat on the warehouse door, there were a lot of desperate people, kids and pregnant women,” said a local resident, asking to remain anonymous.

“The neighbors knocked the door down, they destroyed everything, and made off with bags of flour and pasta. Police and National Guard had to ask for reinforcements, they threw tear gas and we heard shots.”

(Additional reporting by Mircely Guanipa, Brian Ellsworth, Cristian Veron, Eyanir Chinea, Andreina Aponte, Diego Ore, Maria Ramirez, and Andrew Cawthorne; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Andrew Hay & Simon Cameron-Moore)

Venezuela prosecutor decries Maduro plan, unrest worsens

Demonstrators hold a banner that reads "MEDICINE RIGHT NOW" during a rally called by health care workers and opposition activists against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Alexandra Ulmer and Maria Ramirez

CARACAS/PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state prosecutor has panned unpopular President Nicolas Maduro’s plan to create a grassroots congress, deepening a rare public split among the ruling Socialists as the death toll from two months of unrest hit 51.

Chief State Prosecutor Luisa Ortega stunned the crisis-hit country in March when she lambasted the Supreme Court for annulling the powers of the opposition-led National Assembly.

Since then, she has been a wild card within the publicly homogenous Venezuelan government, whose foes accuse it of seeking to dodge elections by creating a parallel assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution.

Socialist Party official Elias Jaua, in charge of the “constituent assembly” project, confirmed on Monday that Ortega had written him to express her discontent in a letter that was previously leaked on social media.

“It is my imperative to explain the reasons for which I have decided not to participate in this activity,” Ortega’s two-page missive reads.

“Instead of bringing stability or generating a climate of peace, I think this will accelerate the crisis,” she said, mentioning it would heighten uncertainty and alter the “unbeatable” constitution launched under late leader Hugo Chavez.

Jaua acknowledged receipt of Ortega’s letter, but quickly said she was merely expressing a “political opinion,” without any power to change the situation.

“We consider that the only organ the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s constitution empowers to interpret the constitution is the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber,” he said at a news conference, in reference to the pro-government top court.

Venezuelans are scrutinizing Maduro’s government and the armed forces for any cracks as protesters take to the streets daily to demand early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists.

While there are no outward signs of major fissures that would destabilize 18-years of ‘Chavista’ rule, demonstrators have been cheered by Ortega’s public dissent and by some public denunciations of officials by their relatives.

RISING DEATH TOLL

While anti-government protests have brought hundreds of thousands to the streets, Venezuelans are increasingly concerned about spates of nighttime looting and barricades popping up in many neighborhoods.

Masked youths man roadblocks, turning back traffic or asking motorists for a monetary “collaboration” to be allowed through.

The worst nighttime unrest has largely been concentrated outside the capital, however, with the jungle and savannah state of Bolivar hard-hit overnight.

Some 51 buses were burned after a group attacked a transport company in the city of Puerto Ordaz, the prosecutor’s office said on Monday. Barricades and clashes with the National Guard were also rippling through the city on Monday, according to a Reuters witness.

There also was trouble on Monday in Barinas, the rural state where Chavez was born and which is regarded by his supporters as the “cradle of the revolution.”

Mobs burned the headquarters of the Socialist Party in the state capital, and clashes and looting raged throughout the day, witnesses and authorities said.

Several opposition leaders have condemned the violence, but the episodes highlight the risks of protests spinning out of their control amid widespread anger at Maduro, hunger, and easy access to weapons in one of the world’s most violence countries.

Maduro accuses his opponents of an “armed insurrection,” backed by the United States, his ideological foe.

His government blames “fascist” protesters for looting and deaths in the unrest since early April.

The death toll increased to at least 51 people after a policeman, Jorge Escandon, died after being injured in Carabobo state and three people died in protests in Barinas, the prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

Hundreds of people also have been injured and more than 2,600 arrested, with about 1,000 still jailed, according to rights groups.

On Monday, opposition supporters and doctors in white robes tried to march to the Health Ministry in Caracas to demand access to proper treatment amid major shortages of medicines ranging from painkillers to chemotherapy drugs.

“Today, I’m not here as a lawmaker, I’m here marching for my sister who has a cerebral tumor, a tumor that is growing again and producing paralysis, a tumor for which Venezuela used to receive medicine and the injections for this not to happen,” said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.

“Today I walk for my brother, who is diabetic, and who, like my mom, can’t find medicine,” added Pizarro, part of a new generation of opposition leaders who have been at the forefront of protests and often been tear-gassed.

In a scene repeated over and over in recent weeks, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators and clashes erupted with hooded youths who threw rocks.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Eyanir Chinea, Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Bill Trott)

Mayhem rages in west Venezuela; Capriles blocked from U.N. trip

Opposition supporters clash with riot security forces while rallying against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Anggy Polanco and Andreina Aponte

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela/CARACAS (Reuters) – Mobs looted shops and fought security forces overnight in Venezuela’s restive western region, where three soldiers were being charged on Thursday with the fatal shooting of a man who was buying diapers for his baby, witnesses said.

Six weeks of anti-government unrest have resulted in at least 44 deaths, as well as hundreds of injuries and arrests in the worst turmoil of President Nicolas Maduro’s four-year rule of the South American OPEC-member country.

Protesters are demanding elections to kick out the socialist government that they accuse of wrecking the economy and turning Venezuela into a dictatorship. Maduro, 54, the successor to late leader Hugo Chavez, says his foes are seeking a violent coup.

One of Maduro’s main opponents, local governor Henrique Capriles, said on Thursday that his passport was confiscated when he was at the airport outside Caracas for a flight to New York, where he was to visit the United Nations and denounce human rights violations.

“My passport is valid until 2020. What they want to do here is avoid us going to the United Nations,” Capriles said, before returning to the capital to join a protest march.

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, was due to meet with Capriles in New York on Friday.

“Hope (Capriles’) passport removal is not reprisal linked to planned meeting with me tomorrow,” Zeid said on Twitter.

The move comes a month after Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate who was seen by many as the opposition’s best chance in the presidential election scheduled for 2018, was banned from holding political office for 15 years.

Capriles, a sports-loving lawyer who has tried to shake the opposition’s reputation of elitism by focusing on grassroots efforts with poor Venezuelans, narrowly lost the 2013 vote against Maduro, and the two frequently lock horns.

UNREST IN THE WEST

Across the country near the border with Colombia, clashes and lootings raged overnight, even though the government sent 2,000 troops to Tachira state.

Security forces fired teargas at stone-throwing gangs, and crowds smashed their way into shops and offices in San Cristobal, the state capital, and elsewhere.

Manuel Castellanos, 46, was shot in the neck on Wednesday when caught in a melee while walking home with diapers he had bought for his son, witnesses said.

Diapers have become prized products in Venezuela due to widespread shortages of basic domestic items.

The State Prosecutor’s Office said three National Guard sergeants would be charged later on Thursday for their “presumed responsibility” in Castellanos’ killing.

Earlier in the week, a 15-year-old was shot dead when out buying flour for his family’s dinner.

Most shops in San Cristobal, a traditional hotbed of anti-government militancy, were closed on Thursday, with long lines at the few establishments open.

In Caracas, protesters sought to march to the Interior and Justice Ministry but were blocked on a major highway by security forces firing tear gas and using armored vehicles. That sparked now-familiar scenes of masked youths brandishing shields and throwing stones at the security line.

International anxiety about the Venezuelan crisis is growing.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos discussed Venezuela’s “deteriorating situation” at a White House meeting on Thursday.

“We will be working with Colombia and other countries on the Venezuela problem,” Trump said. “It is a very, very horrible problem. And from a humanitarian standpoint, it is like nothing we’ve seen in quite a long time.”

France called for mediation amid the worsening situation, and Britain warned its citizens against “all but essential travel” to Venezuela.

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago in Caracas, Tom Miles in Geneva and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne, Alexandra Ulmer and Girish Gupta; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler)

Anti-Maduro protests persist in Venezuela, teenager dies in unrest

Opposition supporters sit next to a placard that reads: "No more deaths", as they block a highway, during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela May 15, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron

By Andrew Cawthorne and Anggy Polanco

CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL (Reuters) – Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro staged sit-ins and roadblocks across Venezuela on Monday to press for elections, sparking new unrest and a death in the border state of Tachira.

Luis Alviarez, 18, was killed during protests in the volatile western state, according to the state ombudsman’s office, which did not give more details.

That brought the death toll in six weeks of protest to at least 39.

Demonstrators have been on the streets daily since early April to demand elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign humanitarian aid to offset an economic crisis, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled legislature.

Maduro accuses them of seeking a violent coup.

Trying to vary tactics and keep momentum, protesters have gone from throwing excrement at security forces to handing them letters and flowers for Mother’s Day on Sunday.

On Monday, thousands massed from 7 a.m. (1100 GMT) on highways in Caracas and elsewhere, chanting slogans, waving banners, playing cards in deck chairs, enjoying impromptu sports games and sharing food.

“I’m here for the full 12 hours. And I’ll be back every day there’s a protest, for as long as is necessary,” said Anelin Rojas, a 30-year-old human resources worker, sitting cross-legged with a novel and earphones in the middle of Caracas’ main highway.

“Unfortunately, we are up against a dictatorship. Nothing is going to change unless we force them,” Rojas added, surrounded by placards saying “Resistance!” and “Maduro, Your Time Is Up!”

Using branches, rocks and garbage, demonstrators blocked the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare in Caracas.

In Tachira, some farmers were striking in solidarity with the protesters. They gave away milk and cheese so it would not go to waste, witnesses said.

On Margarita island, opposition lawmaker Yanet Fermin was detained while mediating between security forces and protesters, her party said.

In Valencia, three policemen were injured, authorities said, with one mistakenly reported by the local Socialist Party governor as having been shot dead earlier in the day.

The opposition, which commands majority support after years in the shadow of the ruling socialists, is more united than during the last wave of anti-Maduro protests in 2014.

But it has been unable to stop violence in its ranks, with youths vandalizing property and starting fires when security forces block marches with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons.

CLAIMS OF MEDIA BIAS

The deaths have included protesters, government sympathizers, bystanders and security forces, during six weeks of protests. Hundreds have been hurt and arrested.

The current wave of protests, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on some days, has drawn greater support from the poor, who backed late leader Hugo Chavez massively but have soured on Maduro, his successor, and suffered the most from four years of recession.

But the main protests have still been in middle-class areas. Maduro, 54, who narrowly won election in 2013 after Chavez’s death, says he is the victim of an international right-wing conspiracy that has already brought down leftist governments in Brazil, Argentina and Peru in recent years.

Government supporters say international media coverage of Venezuela has been biased, emphasizing government repression and minimizing opposition violence.

“Another crime CNN will unfairly attribute to Nicolas Maduro,” Information Minister Ernesto Villegas tweeted of the original report of the death of the policeman – which turned out to be false.

International pressure on Maduro has been growing. Representatives from 18 members of the Organization of American States approved a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela’s crisis for May 31 in Washington. The OAS floated the idea of the meeting last month, prompting Venezuela to announce plans to withdraw from the group.

The European Union on Monday called for elections in its most outspoken statement yet on the Venezuela crisis.

Authorities thwarted an opposition push for a referendum last year and have also delayed state gubernatorial elections. But Maduro vowed at the weekend that the next presidential election, due in late 2018, would go ahead.

“We will thrash them!” he predicted, though pollsters widely foresee defeat for the ruling Socialist Party at any open vote.

The government is also setting up a controversial body called a constituent assembly, with authority to rewrite the constitution and shake up public powers.

Maduro says that is needed to bring peace to Venezuela, but foes view it as a cynical tactic to buy time and create a biased body that could perpetuate the socialists’ rule.

(Additional reporting by Girish Gupta in Caracas, Maria Ramirez in Ciudad Bolivar and Robin Emmott in Brussels; Editing by Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)