Tag Archives: Venezuela

‘You want war?’ Venezuela spars with rivals at OAS meeting

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the OAS 47th General Assembly in Cancun, Mexico June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

By Anthony Esposito

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Governments from across the Americas chastised Venezuela’s socialist leadership on Tuesday for its handling of a political and economic crisis, prompting the OPEC nation’s foreign minister to call the critics “lapdogs of imperialism.”

The United States, Brazil and 10 other members of the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) issued a letter accusing Venezuela of undermining democracy, failing to feed its people and violating rights.

“Considering the interruption of the democratic process in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, we believe that there should be a settled solution that includes all Venezuelan parties for the benefit of the people of that nation,” said the letter issued at the OAS general assembly in Cancun, Mexico.

It called for the release of political prisoners, respect for rights, an election timetable, a “humanitarian channel” to ship food and medicine, and the creation of a group or mechanism to help “effective dialogue among Venezuelans.”

The 12 nations also called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to abandon a July 30 vote for a super-body with powers to rewrite the country’s constitution. Critics see Maduro’s move as a ploy to hold on to power.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez fired back, criticizing Mexico’s rights record and highlighting poverty, violence and migration in Honduras and other nations.

Rodriguez said the country’s planned constituent assembly was the only way to overcome the current crisis peacefully and called her critics “lapdogs of imperialism.”

“Do you want war? Is that what you want for Venezuela?” the minister said, wearing a red dress, the color identified with Venezuela’s Socialist Party. She accused OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro of trying to stir up a civil war in Venezuela.

“Great, we’ve reached the boss,” she said as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan began a speech, repeating her jibe that the OAS is an arm of U.S. diplomacy.

Sullivan asked members of the OAS “to do right by the people of Venezuela” through the creation of a group to help facilitate a resolution.

Rodriguez said: “The only way you could impose this on us is with your Marines, which would meet a strong response in Venezuela.”

She said Venezuela would never go back to the OAS.

But she left the door open to participating in further meetings, saying that although Venezuela left the organization there was a two-year administrative period to finalize the departure in which it could still participate.

Honduran Foreign Minister Maria Dolores Aguero asked Rodriguez to explain how her government was going to alleviate Venezuela’s problems.

“Instead of responding to all of us who want peace for your people, why not tell us how you are going to resolve the crisis they are living?” Aguero said.

A meeting on the sidelines failed on Monday to agree on a resolution formally rebuking Venezuela, where 75 people have been killed in protests in recent weeks.

“A resolution, a strong declaration from this organization, is probably the only realistic way of avoiding a blood bath in Venezuela,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive director Americas for Human Rights Watch.

Some of the meeting’s participants remained optimistic they could reach a resolution and that Venezuela could avoid spiraling further into violence.

The foreign minister of Guatemala, a nation that faced a 36-year internal armed conflict that left some 200,000 people dead, voiced that sentiment.

“We don’t wish that on anybody, least of all Venezuela, and if we were able to sit down and negotiate, Venezuela needs to be able to do that too,” Foreign Minister Carlos Morales said.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Leslie Adler)

A daily conundrum in convulsed Venezuela: will my kids make it to school?

FILE PHOTO: School children protect themselves from tear gas during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

By Brian Ellsworth and Andreina Aponte

CARACAS (Reuters) – With anti-government protesters blocking avenues and highways across Venezuela several times a week, many parents spend their evenings asking the same question – will my kids make it to school tomorrow?

While parents worry they will be unable to pick up their children after classes because of the tumult, teachers are often forced to skip work due to the clashes between protesters and troops.

Yet the Education Ministry has refused to cancel classes at state schools even when spillover from demonstrations poses a risk to children – primarily from the tear gas fired to disperse protesters.

It also has forbidden private schools, which serve about a quarter of the country’s primary and secondary school students, from suspending lessons.

The result is that one of the most routine parenting responsibilities – getting children to school – now requires constantly juggling of contingency plans and calculating the odds of getting through protests that have left 75 people dead.

“We check Twitter until about 9:30, 10:00 at night and that’s when we decide if we’re going to take our son to school the next day,” said Ignacio, 33, a telecom engineer who asked that his last name not be used for fear of reprisals.

“Sometimes my wife will leave to pick him up and she’ll come across barricades or lanes closed on the highway, so we have to figure out if I have to rush from work to get him.”

Outraged by triple-digit inflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine, demonstrators gather on main avenues for protests that range from peaceful sit-ins to rock-throwing melees with troops firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

That creates traffic chaos that can disrupt public transportation just as school is letting out.

Protesters are demanding that the Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro address a crippling economic crisis and scrap plans to rewrite the constitution of the South American oil producer.

Parents try to delicately explain to their kids why they are not in class while still sheltering them from the country’s virulent political discourse, which is increasingly drifting into the lexicon of even elementary school children.

Teachers constantly reschedule lessons and tests to compensate for missed days of the academic year, which normally runs from October to July. Parents worry that their kids risk falling behind in their studies if the unrest continues.

The protests have disrupted daily life well beyond schools. They at times prevent deliveries of raw materials to factories, force state agencies to remain closed, and lead shops to preventively shut their doors on rumors that demonstrations are devolving into looting.

The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.

Caribay Valenzuela (R), walks with her daughters (L-R) Carlota, Eloisa and Carmen, after picking them up on the school on a day of protests in Caracas, Venezuela June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Caribay Valenzuela (R), walks with her daughters (L-R) Carlota, Eloisa and Carmen, after picking them up on the school on a day of protests in Caracas, Venezuela June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

TEAR GAS IN CLASSROOMS

Ruling Socialist Party officials say the protests are part of a violent effort to overthrow Maduro. They say the constant disruptions of public order limit access to education and thus undermine late socialist leader Hugo Chavez’s efforts to invest in  schools

Maduro says private schools have in some cases canceled class as a way of supporting the opposition.

“I have ordered an investigation against those owners of private schools that have promoted hatred, racism, violence,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast in May.

The Education Ministry last month said it had fined 15 private schools for “permitting, provoking and inciting violent actions in educational facilities and their surrounding areas.”

As a result, schools remain open even under extreme circumstances.

National Guard troops in late May fired a tear gas canister into the main patio of a school called the Montessori Institute in the city of Barquisimeto, according to a local media report, in an apparent effort to disperse a nearby protest.

When a group of students left the building to escape the fumes, three of them were detained by the National Guard, according to the report.

A school official said the report was accurate but declined further comment.

Two Caracas Catholic schools in separate incidents in April had to evacuate children after they were flooded by clouds of tear gas, according to Reuters witnesses. The schools declined to comment.

Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who has become a high-profile critic of the government’s handling of protests, recently called on security forces not to fire tear gas near clinics and schools.

Under the circumstances, many parents opt to leave kids at home. But this can lead to heightened government scrutiny of schools.

Education Ministry officials threatened to shutter one private school in the central state of Lara, where classrooms went empty for days on end due to parents’ safety concerns, according to two parents of children that study there.

They backed off the threat after an inspection determined that teachers were working normal hours, sitting in silent classrooms and maintaining lesson plans, they said.

A third parent, who is involved in the parent-teacher association, confirmed the incident but asked that the school not be named to avoid reprisals. Reuters was unable to obtain comment from the school.

Caribay Valenzuela, whose two daughters study near the Altamira neighborhood that has been a focal point of protests, sends them to school with goggles and a handkerchief in case the protests spill over.

The 39-year-old routinely picks up her kids early and takes them to her mother’s house because her own home is at times hit by tear gas.

“They ask me to pick up the kids at 10 a.m. when there are marches to make sure that staff can get home,” Valenzuela said.

“Maintaining the routine has been really difficult because they ask me ‘Is there school tomorrow? Is it a full day? What are we going to do tomorrow?'”

(Editing by Bill Trott)

Another youth killed as Venezuela protesters flex muscle in street clashes

A member of the riot security forces (R) points what appears to be a pistol towards a crowd of demonstrators during a rally against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron

By Frank Jack Daniel

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition activists battled security forces in Caracas on Monday at one of the largest demonstrations in recent weeks, aiming to dispel doubts about the movement’s stamina after over two months of almost daily street clashes.

A teenager died of a gunshot wound in the latest clashes and several others were injured, bringing the death toll since April to at least 73.

About 10,000 protesters filled the streets and arching flyovers of the city’s wealthy east. Faced with security forces’ water cannons and volleys of teargas, a deep line of protesters threw rocks, petrol bombs and powerful fireworks from behind crude wooden shields.

“Day 80 of the resistance, and the people are not tired. Today, it is clear to anybody who was worried that the street had died down that it is not the case,” Freddy Guevara, a lawmaker from the opposition Popular Will party, said at the protest.

A Reuters photo showed a member of the National Guard pointing what appeared to be a pistol toward a crowd of protesters. In a separate video showing what looked like the same scene, an official appears to be firing a pistol.

In an apparent reference to the incident, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol described an “improper and disproportionate use of force,” saying on Twitter that several people had been injured and one killed. He said officers involved were being investigated, but also condemned the violence of the protesters.

The dead protester was named as Fabian Urbina, 17, shot in the chest, the local mayor said, adding at least 27 others were injured.

The National Guard is a wing of the military tasked with public order. The head of the guard on Sunday said his men would never use “weapons of war” against protesters.

“You have not seen anything, squalid ones,” said Diosdado Cabello, a top leader of the Socialist Party, speaking at a separate pro-government protest earlier in the day, and using a popular epithet for the government’s opponents. “What you have seen is just a little scratch.”

The opposition accuses President Nicolas Maduro of dragging the oil-exporting country toward dictatorship by delaying elections, jailing opposition activists and pressing to overhaul the constitution.

Maduro contends the protests are part of a foreign plot to topple his government, and points to arson attacks on public buildings as evidence of what he calls terrorism.

Anti-government activists’ anger has been fanned by shortages of food and medicines which have coincided with a spike in infant malnutrition and mortality.

“We don’t have food, we don’t have healthcare, we don’t have a future,” said a protester, who declined to give his name, speaking through a gas mask. “How is it possible that at 19 years old, I have to be here fighting?”

A young musician nearby played the national anthem on a clarinet, while tear gas grenades and rocks whistled past her. Green flashes and explosions echoed from apartment blocks, and two protesters flung themselves at armored vehicles, hitting the windows with clubs.

“We are here to show that we are not terrorists, we are only here to fight for our rights,” said the musician, who gave her name as Hazel.

The protests began in April when the Supreme Court tried to usurp the powers of the opposition-controlled Congress.

Some marches have been smaller in recent weeks as violence has flared. But Monday’s effort, matched by protests in several other parts of the country, demonstrated the movement still has momentum.

The opposition seeks to halt Maduro’s plan to hold July 30 elections for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, a move the opposition says is aimed at undermining democracy.

“We want to put pressure on the government, it cannot impose a new constitution,” said telecoms engineer Luis Serrano, 22, resting at a medical station near the protest.

(Editing by G Crosse)

On buses and trains, Venezuela opposition leaders protest Maduro

FILE PHOTO - A protester holds a national flag as a bank branch, housed in the magistracy of the Supreme Court of Justice, burns during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Diego Oré and Andreína Aponte

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan legislators and opposition leaders on Thursday staged protests against President Nicolas Maduro aboard buses and trains in Caracas in an effort to bypass blockades of street demonstrations by security forces.

Maduro’s adversaries have for more than two months been holding marches and rallies that are routinely cut short by troops and police, resulting in clashes that have left at least 71 people dead.

“Our message is going to travel all the stations of the subway,” said opposition deputy Juan Mejia before boarding a Caracas subway train.

“Our message will reach all those Venezuelans who have expressed a desire for a different country, but who have to go out and get their daily bread to help their family.”

Mejia said that employees of the capital’s subway, which has for years been closely controlled by the ruling Socialist Party, made announcements over loudspeakers warning of delays due to “a group of opposition sympathizers.”

Maduro’s critics say he is seeking to forge dictatorship through a legislative superbody known as a constituent assembly to be elected on July 30 in a vote opposition leaders say is rigged in favor of the Socialists.

Maduro, who was elected after the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013, says the protests are an effort to overthrow him and blames the opposition for scores of deaths. He says the constituent assembly will help the country escape a crippling economic crisis.

Authorities confirmed two more student deaths at protests on Thursday. Luis Vera, 20, was crushed by a car in the oil region of Zulia, while Jose Gregorio Perez was hit in the face in the mountain state of Tachira, the public prosecutor’s office said.

Another group of deputies boarded city buses that run through Caracas and nearby cities and explained to passersby their view that the constituent assembly “formalizes the dictatorship.”

Activists also organized a 6 a.m. visit to the National Electoral Council, which the opposition accuses of favoring Maduro’s government, to put up posters with messages such as “CNE accomplice of the dictatorship.”

It was the first time during the current wave of demonstrations that protesters were able to reach the institution. Previous marches to the headquarters were blocked by security forces.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence held up Venezuela on Thursday as a prime example of what happens when democracy is undermined and urged Latin American leaders to condemn its government, comments Maduro described as nauseating.

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Lisa Shumaker)

Venezuela opposition condemns ‘vandalism’ in apartment block raids

People walk past the broken fencing of a building after opposition supporters and security forces clashed in and outside the building on Tuesday according to residents, in Caracas, Venezuela June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

By Diego Oré

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition lawmakers on Wednesday said security forces used excessive violence during a raid to capture protesters in a sprawling middle-class apartment complex carried out after officers came under fire.

Videos taken during the raid show an armored truck smashing through the gates of the Los Verdes complex, in an operation that Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said resulted in the capture of 23 people who had been involved in attacks on security forces.

“These subjects were involved in violent acts in which several officials were injured by gun fire,” Reverol said, describing clashes at a barricade close to the apartments as the trigger for the raid.

Los Verdes is located in a Caracas neighborhood that has been the site of almost nightly clashes over two months since protests broke out against government restrictions on the opposition and chronic shortages of basic consumer goods.

With at least 68 killed since April, the increasing intensity of protests and the government response has led some to warn that Venezuela risks descending into deeper political violence.

The government calls violent protesters “terrorists” who want to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, and says that acts including attacks on police, the burning of vehicles and a looting and arson attack on a court building this week delegitimize their cause.

Dozens of car windows were smashed and at least 12 elevators broken during the operation on Los Verdes, said a Reuters witness at the site on Wednesday. One resident said an agent shot her dog in the eye.

“They are mafia criminals armed by the government,” said opposition lawmaker Tomas Guanipa, describing as “vandalism” the government action at the complex, which houses some 4,500 people.

Small protests and clashes rumbled on in several parts of Caracas and other cities on Wednesday, with security forces firing tear gas to clear a roadblock in a wealthy part of the capital and protesters burning a car.

Reverol said two people were killed in an accident when one motorcycle hit another after turning back from an opposition barricade on Wednesday.

The opposition street movement has been fanned by Maduro’s plan for July 30 elections for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, which critics say are stacked in the government’s favor and will result in the opposition-controlled congress being dissolved.

The opposition is determined to stop the vote, calling instead for a presidential election. In a sign of how heated rhetoric has become, opposition lawmakers warn the situation could descend into armed conflict if protesters are not heard.

“If this government insists on going ahead, the world needs to know, sadly, what is coming here is a major war for the Venezuelans,” said lawmaker Juan Requesens at a sit-in protest blocking a Caracas highway on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Anti-Maduro chants ring at Venezuela soccer heroes’ welcome

Fans shout slogans against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government during a welcoming ceremony for Venezuela's under-20 soccer team, upon their arrival from the FIFA U-20 World Cup, in Caracas, Venezuela June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

By Diego Oré

CARACAS (Reuters) – Thousands of soccer fans repeatedly chanted against President Nicolas Maduro’s government during a homage in a stadium on Tuesday to Venezuela’s youth team who were runners up in a World Cup final.

Some 20,000 people in the Olympic Stadium cheered as each of the players, dressed in the red wine colored “Vinotinto” national strip, was welcomed on stage.

But for a short period before the event began, much of the crowd shouted a popular anti-government slogan, with the chants surging again several times during the ceremony.

“It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall, this government is going to fall!” the fans sang at the stadium in Caracas.

At one point, the chants became so loud that team coach Rafael Dudamel pleaded with the crowd to quieten down, saying from the stage: “Nobody should steal this moment from us.”

Protesters demanding elections, along with an end to food and medicine shortages, have stormed the streets of Caracas and other cities almost every day since early April.

At least 68 people have died in the often violent demonstrations, including protesters, government supporters, bystanders and members of the security forces.

The president says his foes are seeking a violent coup.

Unusually for such an event, Tuesday’s homage was not broadcast live on the main state television channel, which instead showed Maduro at an event with army officials. Earlier the team’s arrival at the airport was broadcast.

The youth side unexpectedly reached the Under-20 World Cup final in South Korea, the strongest ever performance for a soccer side from a country where baseball has long been the national sport.

Although beaten by England in the final, the players’ success has created a rare moment of joint pride amid the bitter political divide and violence.

“Even though they lost, they are our champions. This is the greatest achievement in our football history and we will not forget,” said architecture student Roberto Hernandez, 22.

“This country needs some happiness and these kids gave us spadefuls of that every time they won a game.”

Though coach Dudamel was judicious in his words on Tuesday, he irked the government last week when, after a semi-final victory, he called on Maduro to “stop the weapons” and lamented the death of a 17-year-old protester.

The violence was unabated on Tuesday, with a 45-year-old police officer shot dead during a demonstration in the mountain state of Merida. State governor Alexis Ramirez condemned the death as an act of “hooded terrorists” who shot at police, injuring two more plus two students.

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Andrew Hay)

Venezuela chief prosecutor accuses government of harassment; violence flares

A protester holds a national flag as a bank branch, housed in the magistracy of the Supreme Court of Justice, burns during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Andreina Aponte and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s chief prosecutor said on Monday her family had been threatened and followed by intelligence agents since she split with the government, and violence broke out in protests at the Supreme Court over a bid to change the constitution.

Luisa Ortega, a former ally of President Nicolas Maduro who has turned against him and the ruling Socialist Party, has questioned Maduro’s handling of opposition street protests in recent weeks and challenged his plan to rewrite a constitution brought in by late leader Hugo Chavez.

“Somebody is threatening my family,” she said in a radio interview. “They harass them. They follow them, patrol cars that look like SEBIN,” she said, referring to the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN).

State officials have launched a series of verbal attacks on Ortega, ranging from questioning her sanity to accusing her of promoting violence.

She said she would hold the government responsible if her family was harmed.

Fanned by anger at triple-digit inflation along with shortages of food and medicine, protests have grown smaller but more violent over the past two months, with at least 67 killed and thousands injured.

Ortega’s office said it was investigating the death on Monday of a man called Socrates Salgado, 49, in a coastal town near Caracas. Opposition politicians said he died during a protest.

“INEPT”

In April, Ortega successfully challenged a Supreme Court decision to assume the powers of the opposition-controlled legislature, making her the highest official in years to openly break with the ruling party.

She filed a Supreme Court challenge last week to Maduro’s plan to elect a legislative super-body known as a constituent assembly, that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and in some cases dissolve state institutions.

The Supreme Court rejected the challenge on Monday.

“The electoral chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declares that the (challenge) filed by Luisa Ortega Diaz is inadmissible because it is an inept accumulation of pretensions,” the court said on Twitter.

In response, Ortega launched another legal challenge, this time claiming that 13 judges appointed to the court in 2015 were put there via an “irregular” process and that they should be replaced.

Protesters angry at the pro-government court’s ruling on Monday attacked a branch of the court with petrol bombs and damaged a bank in the same building, which was engulfed in smoke and flames. Several protesters were injured as security guards tried to repel them.

Police arrested 24 people for their involvement in the daylight attack on a busy office block, which was condemned by Maduro as a terrorist act. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said it was the work of government agitators.

Outside the Supreme Court headquarters in downtown Caracas, protesters backing Ortega were confronted earlier by government supporters.

Maduro says Venezuela is the victim of an “economic war” that he says can only be addressed by a constituent assembly.

The elections council has set an election for the assembly for July 30. The opposition is refusing to participate in the vote, saying it is rigged in favor of the Socialist Party.

In a move seen as crimping opposition power, the Interior Ministry on Monday took direct control of the state police force in Miranda, a region that includes a wealthy part of Caracas. Capriles, a former presidential candidate, is its governor.

Citing the current constitution, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the six-month “intervention” was justified because there was evidence the police force was involved in rights abuses and organized crime.

Capriles said the plan was to use the police force to repress protests and said members of the force should not obey any order that violated human rights or the constitution.

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Cynthia Osterman and Paul Tait)

Venezuela inflation so far this year at 128 percent: congress

Riot security forces members catch fire during riots at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS (Reuters) – Inflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy was 127.8 percent in the first five months of 2017, the opposition-led congress said on Friday in the absence of official data.

Economic hardship in the country, where many are skipping food and there are severe shortages, is helping fuel opposition protests that have led to at least 67 deaths in the last two months.

Various factors underlay the five-month price rise, including excess money-printing by the central bank, restrictions on imports and a recent devaluation of the bolivar, opposition lawmaker and economist Angel Alvarado said.

May inflation was 18.26 percent, he added, presenting the latest opposition-calculated index.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government has not published official data for more than a year.

Government opponents say Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have wrecked a once-prosperous economy with 18 years of state-led socialist policies ranging from nationalizations to currency controls.

The government says it is victim of an “economic war” led by opposition-linked businessmen.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Venezuela assembly plan threatens Chavez legacy: prosecutor

A woman reacts at the place where 17-year-old demonstrator Neomar Lander died during riots at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, June 8, 2017. The sign reads: "Neomar, entertainer for ever". REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

By Eyanir Chinea

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s plan for a new popular congress to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution threatens to destroy the political legacy of former leader Hugo Chavez, the chief state prosecutor said on Thursday.

Maduro, 54, who calls himself the “son” of Chavez and guarantor of his late mentor’s socialist ideals, has cast the constituent assembly plan as the way to restore peace after two months of anti-government unrest that has killed 67 people.

Critics, including some traditional government supporters, have said there is no need to rewrite the constitution reformed by Chavez in 1999, and insist that a referendum should be held to determine if the country wants such an assembly.

“I think with this (assembly) we are destroying President Chavez’s legacy,” Luisa Ortega, the prosecutor who broke with Maduro several weeks ago, said outside the Supreme Court.

Chavez ruled Venezuela from 1999-2013, winning a plethora of elections due to his oil-fueled social welfare policies, charisma, and connection with the poor.

He is still revered by many, though critics argue that his populist policies are the base for the current economic meltdown.

Opposition leaders are calling for a general election to settle Venezuela’s crisis. They have said that the assembly plan is a sham with skewed rules to ensure the socialists remain in power.

“A constituent (assembly) behind the backs of the people cannot be,” Ortega added, also denouncing the “ferocious repression” of anti-Maduro protests.

“Those opposed to the assembly are called traitors, fascists, terrorists – we cannot live in a country like that,” Ortega said.

The pro-government Supreme Court has already shot down one appeal against the constituent process lodged by Ortega, the highest-profile dissenter from within government since the protests started in April.

On Thursday, she asked the court to block the constituent process put in place by Maduro and the national election board.

Opposition protesters have been on the streets near-daily for more than two months demanding elections, foreign humanitarian aid, freedom for hundreds of jailed activists, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

They call Maduro a dictator who has wrecked the OPEC nation’s economy. The 54-year-old president says they are right-wing “fascists” seeking a coup.

The latest fatality from the unrest was 17-year-old protester Neomar Lander, who died during clashes with security forces in Caracas on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Corina Pons and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Violence engulfs Venezuelan capital, teenage protester dies

Riot security forces members catch fire during riots at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – A 17-year-old Venezuelan protester died in ferocious clashes between security forces and protesters in Caracas on Wednesday, taking the death toll from unrest since April to at least 66.

The government said Neomar Lander died when a homemade mortar exploded in his hands while hundreds of youths faced off with National Guard troops in the Venezuelan capital.

Opposition lawmakers, however, said he was killed by a tear gas cannister fired straight at him. The state prosecutor’s office announced a probe, without giving details.

A Reuters photographer saw a young man, assumed to be Lander, lying bloodied and motionless on the street, receiving emergency first aid.

At least 66 people have died, with victims including government and opposition supporters, bystanders and members of the security forces, since demonstrations began against President Nicolas Maduro more than two months ago.

Each side blames the other for the violence.

Critics denounce Maduro as a repressive dictator, and are demanding general elections, foreign humanitarian aid, freedom for hundreds of jailed activists, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

“We mustn’t let fear intimidate us, let’s stay in the streets to fight for all Venezuelans’ future,” said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro, weeping at a news conference as he described seeing Lander’s death.

“Soon we will able to say these were the last, dark days of the dicatorship.”

Maduro, 54, calls his foes violent right-wing “fascist” conspirators seeking a coup similar to the short-lived 2002 toppling of his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

“This is criminal terrorism, and we must reject it,” Maduro told supporters in a speech carried on state TV, comparing his foes to Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Augusto Pinochet.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

In the worst turmoil of Maduro’s turbulent four-year rule, thousands of people have been injured and arrested in recent weeks. Protesters are also complaining about hunger and shortages during a brutal economic crisis in the OPEC nation.

In Caracas on Wednesday, security forces using armored vehicles, water cannons and tear gas blocked opposition supporters from marching to the national election board’s headquarters, sparking clashes around the city.

Masked youths with homemade shields hurled stones and Molotov cocktails, and set up burning roadblocks, while businesses and schools closed, and residents ran for cover.

Among hundreds of injuries reported in Caracas and other cities, the government highlighted the case of two National Guard soldiers wounded by gunshots when they were clearing a barricade in the El Paraiso district of the capital.

Seeking to keep the pressure on Maduro, the opposition announced further upcoming activities including a planned censure vote against the interior minister in the National Assembly and a rally in honor of Lander on Thursday.

Maduro has sought to take the heat out of the situation by announcing the creation of a super-body called a constituent assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution, but foes say that is a sham purely designed to keep the socialists in power.

The national election board announced on Wednesday that votes for the new assembly would still go ahead on July 30, despite an opposition boycott, criticism from some within government, and a legal appeal by state prosecutor Luisa Ortega who said it threatened to “eliminate” democracy.

The pro-government Supreme Court rejected her petition in a ruling made public on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Carlos Rawlins and Eyanir Chinea; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Andrew Hay)