Teen dies at protest as Venezuela political unrest persists

Opposition protests in Venezuela took a deadly turn again Wednesday when a teenager was killed at a march demanding an end to the government’s push to rewrite the struggling nation’s constitution, The Hindu reported.

Videos circulating on social media showed paramedics trying to resuscitate a lifeless young man as he bled profusely from his chest. Authorities vowed to investigate the death while releasing no details on how he had been injured.

Opposition leaders identified the young man as 17-year-old Neomar Lander, and his relatives said he had gone with family members to demonstrate peacefully. “I’m going to keep fighting,” said the teen’s uncle, Mauro Arellano.

Confrontations between state security forces and opponents of the social administration appear unlikely to fizzle soon, and nearly 70 people have died in two months of political unrest fed by Venezuela’s triple-digit inflation, widespread food shortages and high crime. Demonstrators are demanding a new presidential election.

On Wednesday, President Nicolas Maduro continued his contentious campaign to hold a national assembly to rewrite the constitution. Speaking to military academy students, he again blamed opposition leaders for the violence roiling Venezuela. And as he has previously, he compared assaults on pro-government forces to the persecution inflicted on Jews in Nazi Germany.

Only a few deaths during protests have resulted in arrests, and about half of those cases have been attributed to police.

With the exception of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, the nation’s highest institutions, nearly all stacked with pro-government officials, have backed Maduro’s call for a constitutional assembly to be elected in July, which he says can help resolve the crisis. Venezuela’s Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it had deemed inadmissible a request from chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz for a clarification on how the assembly could be convened.

Opposition members contend such an assembly cannot be elected without holding a referendum first. But the Supreme Court has ruled a referendum is “not necessary, not constitutionally required.”

Opposition leaders reported on Monday that demonstrators were being robbed by national guardsmen at protests. One incident caught on video showed a member of the military removing a watch from a woman’s wrist.

Source: MENA