Venezuela’s opposition vowed no letup Tuesday in its bid to remove leftist President Nicolas Maduro from power, even as more protesters were shot dead in an increasingly violent political crisis.
Maduro’s center-right rivals said they would go ahead with new street protests Wednesday, despite a wave of unrest that has seen 26 people killed this month in clashes involving protesters and security forces.
In the latest unrest, prosecutors said a 23-year-old man died from being shot in the head with a shotgun in overnight protests in northwestern Lara state. They did not immediately say who was believed to have been responsible.
Maduro’s own attorney general meanwhile fueled opposition criticism that the authorities are repressing protests.
Luisa Ortega, who has emerged as a rare public critic within Maduro’s camp, said demonstrators were being arrested and tried without due process.
She cited one example where the arrest sheet for a group of people hauled in by the national guard in the northeastern state of Nueva Esparta gave no details on their alleged crimes.
“What were they doing? What behaviour led to their arrest?” she said at a news conference.
“We cannot charge them with a crime when there isn’t the slightest information to do so… I am obligated to guarantee due process.”
Ortega said nearly 1,300 people had been arrested in this month’s protests.
The death toll has now reached 26, including four “adolescents,” she said. More than 400 people have been injured.
