Category: Venezuela

A local beauty queen died of a bullet wound on Wednesday in the fifth fatality from Venezuela’s political unrest, as imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez urged supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government. College student and model Genesis Carmona, 22, was shot in the head during a protest on Tuesday in the central city of Valencia, and died in a clinic. "How long are we going to live like this? How long do we have to tolerate this pressure, with them killing us?" a relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "She only needed one more semester to graduate," he added of Carmona, who had been studying tourism and had won the 2013 Miss Tourism competition in her state. Tensions have risen in Venezuela since Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, surrendered to troops on Tuesday after spearheading three weeks of […]

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Venezuela ’s opposition vowed to continue street demonstrations into a second week after National Guard troops arrested leader Leopoldo Lopez following protests that have left four people dead. The opposition Voluntad Popular party called on supporters to rally in downtown Caracas in front of the Palace of Justice at 10 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EST). Lopez was forced into a police vehicle yesterday while speaking to supporters after President Nicolas Maduro blamed him for instigating demonstrations over shortages of basic goods and 56 percent inflation in a country with the world’s biggest oil reserves. Related: “We are on the right side of history, on the side of justice, of truth,” Lopez, 42, said in a video that he recorded before his arrest. “Our cause has been and continues to be the departure of this government.” Confronting the biggest challenge to his 10-month-old presidency, Maduro announced plans to import […]

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Venezuelan security forces arrested opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Tuesday on charges of fomenting unrest that has killed at least four people, bringing tens of thousands of his angry supporters onto the streets of Caracas. Crowds of white-clad protesters tried to block the vehicle carrying the 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist after he made a defiant speech, said an emotional farewell to his family, and gave himself up to soldiers. Opposition leaders hope Lopez’s arrest will galvanize street demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro, though there is no immediate sign the protests will topple the socialist leader. "I am handing myself over to an unfair justice system," the protest leader told supporters, standing on a platform next to a statue of Cuban poet and independence hero Jose Marti. "May my imprisonment serve to wake the people up." The crowd lifted his wife up to give him a final embrace […]

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A prominent Venezuelan opposition leader surrendered to the authorities on Tuesday in the midst of a large crowd of supporters who tried to block his arrest on accusations that he was responsible for violence that erupted during recent antigovernment protests. Before giving himself up, the opposition politician, Leopoldo López , walked through a sea of thousands of supporters in the largest rally in more than two weeks of growing protests fueled by discontent over runaway violent crime, a stalled economy, government pressure on the news media and other issues. “We are living in a dark time when criminals are rewarded and they want to imprison the Venezuelans who want peaceful, democratic change,” Mr. López said, standing on the base […]

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called supporters to take to the street tomorrow, hours after an opposition politician sought by police urged his allies to march with him on the same day. Leopoldo Lopez , the leader of opposition party Voluntad Popular, whom Maduro accuses of inciting violence, urged Venezuelans to dress in white and march with him on Tuesday, daring officials to enforce an arrest order issued against him. After Maduro responded by summoning a demonstration of 30,000 to 40,000 oil workers at the same location, Voluntad Popular today switched the site of their march. “I’ve not committed any crime,” Lopez said in a YouTube video posted on his Twitter account yesterday. “If there is a decision to illegally jail me, I’ll be there.” On Feb. 12, three people died and 66 were injured when protesters clashed with government supporters. The biggest demonstrations against Maduro’s administration since he was […]

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AP Photo CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro’s government on Monday gave three U.S. Embassy officials 48 hours to leave the country, accusing the Obama administration of siding with student protesters who Venezuela accuses of inciting violence. The announcement by Foreign Minister Elias Jaua came amid fears that renewed clashes could erupt Tuesday when both pro- and anti-government activists have announced plans for demonstrations in the capital. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said that the senior U.S. consular officers were trying to infiltrate Venezuelan universities, the hotbed of the recent unrest, under the cover of doing visa outreach. Repeating charges by Maduro, who has expelled American diplomats twice before, Jaua said that the U.S. is conspiring with opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and student activists in an attempt to oust the socialist president. The U.S. has denied the charges but is expressing concern about rising violence that led to three […]

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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday ordered the expulsion of three U.S. Embassy officials who he said had been conspiring against his government. Maduro didn’t identify the consular officials, but said intelligence officials who tailed them for the past two months found evidence they were trying to infiltrate Venezuelan universities, a hotbed of recent unrest, under the cover of doing visa outreach. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua is scheduled to provide more details Monday. Triggering the expulsion was the Obama administration’s siding with opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who is being hunted by police as Maduro accuses him of leading a "fascist" plot to oust the socialist government two months after it won mayoral elections by a landslide. Maduro said State Department official Alex Lee, in a phone conversation with Venezuela’s ambassador to the Washington-based Organization of American States, warned that arresting Lopez would bring serious negative consequences with international ramifications. […]

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Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who hasn’t appeared in public since a state dragnet was launched for his capture last week, vowed in a video message Sunday that he would march with antigovernment protesters in the coming days and face arrest. Thousands of antigovernment demonstrators filled the streets for a fourth consecutive day Sunday since a deadly march claimed three lives last week. State authorities have accused Mr. Lopez of plotting the bloodshed to spark a U.S.-backed coup. In a video posted on the website YouTube, Mr. Lopez called for a new protest on Tuesday, which he said he would lead to the Interior and Justice Ministry, setting the stage for his possible apprehension. "I have nothing to fear, I have not committed any crime," he said in the brief video. "If there is some decision to illegally arrest me, well that is where I will be." There was […]

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Venezuelan authorities freed 25 student protesters on Friday pending trial and said that 74 others arrested after this week’s deadly political turmoil would be processed within hours. Demonstrators gathered in various cities as they have done since Wednesday. In a more affluent part of eastern Caracas, police used teargas and water cannons to clear a square of about 1,000 protesters, some of whom lit fires and threw stones at the security forces. The protesters also briefly blocked a major highway nearby, denouncing President Nicolas Maduro over a litany of grievances including the repression of demonstrations since three people were shot dead this week following an opposition-led march. Speaking at a televised event in the city center alongside top officials from the ruling Socialist Party and pro-government sports stars and entertainers, Maduro said he would not let the protesters cause chaos by closing important arteries. "I’m not […]

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; Venezuela’s president said that a Colombia-based cable news channel was ordered to be removed from cable lineups in Venezuela because of its coverage of an antigovernment protest. President Nicolás Maduro said Thursday that the channel, NTN24, had tried to “foment anxiety about a coup d’état.” He said that he gave the order to pull the channel because “No one is going to come from abroad and try to perturb the psychological climate of Venezuela.” It was removed on Wednesday, the same day that thousands of people rallied in the capital, Caracas, in the largest antigovernment protest in months. After the rally, a few hundred youths rioted, throwing rocks at the police and government buildings. Two opposition protesters and a man identified as a government supporter were shot to death during the unrest, which Mr. Maduro said was part of a coup attempt. NTN24 is seen as […]

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