Tag Archives: Unrest

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 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)

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)

Security guard kills Arab-Israeli protester in central Israel: police

A police car, burnt during clashes which erupted in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem, is seen at the entrance to the town in central Israel, early June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A security guard shot and killed an Arab-Israeli citizen as hundreds of protesters stormed a police station in central Israel overnight and set fire to vehicles, police said on Tuesday.

The violence erupted after police officers in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem attempted to apprehend a suspect wanted for questioning, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

About 50 residents confronted the officers and hurled rocks at them, Rosenfeld added.

Hundreds of residents, some of them masked, later broke through the gates of the local police station and tried to enter the building, he said.

“The security guard at the police station felt his life was in danger and opened fire,” Rosenfeld said.

He said one of the protesters was critically wounded and died in hospital.

Television footage distributed by the police showed rocks strewn along the road and three vehicles on fire.

Kafr Qassem’s mayor, Adel Badir, said the guard had used excessive force. “I don’t understand how the security guard could say he felt his life was in danger if he had police officers with him,” Badir told Army Radio.

Badir said tensions with police have been high in recent weeks, because residents feel officers have been ignoring a rise in violent crime.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Venezuela’s Maduro vows referendum, death toll from unrest hits 62

Demonstrators look on as motorcycles belonging to riot security forces are set on fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Diego Oré and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro pledged on Thursday to hold a referendum on a new constitution he has proposed to try and quell two months of anti-government unrest that has killed at least 62 people.

His comments came after criticism from opponents and some within his own government that his plan to create a new super-body, known as a constituent assembly, to rewrite the national charter was anti-democratic.

Chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega had said creating the assembly without a plebiscite, as happened in 1999 when Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez rewrote the constitution, threatened to “eliminate” democracy in Venezuela.

Maduro said on state television: “I shall propose it explicitly: the new constitution will go to a consultative referendum so it is the people who say whether they are in agreement or not with the new, strengthened constitution.”

There was no immediate reaction from Venezuela’s opposition, which now has majority support after years in the shadow of the ruling Socialist Party whose popularity has plunged during the OPEC nation’s brutal economic crisis.

Foes are likely to try and turn any referendum into a vote on Maduro himself. They have been calling for the next presidential election, slated for late 2018, to be brought forward.

The government has said elections for the new constituent assembly will be held in late July, although opposition leaders say the process is skewed to ensure a pro-Maduro majority.

There was no word on when the plebiscite would be held.

Earlier, authorities announced that gunmen had killed a judge involved in the sentencing of Venezuela’s best-known jailed political leader, Leopoldo Lopez.

The judge, 37-year-old Nelson Moncada, was shot and stripped of his belongings as he tried to get away from a street barricade on Wednesday night in Caracas’ El Paraiso district, the scene of regular clashes, the prosecutor’s office said.

This week has seen widespread violence around the Venezuelan capital, with security forces repeatedly breaking up marches by opposition supporters towards government offices downtown, and skirmishes continuing into the night.

“DEMOCRACY BEING ELIMINATED”

Protesters frequently block roads with trash and burning tires, sometimes asking passers-by for contributions towards a self-styled “Resistance” movement against Maduro.

El Paraiso has seen nightly clashes between demonstrators, pro-government gangs and National Guard soldiers.

The government said Moncada was one of the judges who ratified Lopez’s 14-year jail sentence, and suggested that might have been the motive for his killing.

“We cannot exclude the possibility this was done by hitmen hired by right-wing terrorists to keep creating and spreading terror,” Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said, referring to Venezuela’s opposition.

Victims from two months of unrest have included supporters on both sides, bystanders and members of the security forces.

The latest death came in Lara state, where 46-year-old Maria Rodriguez was shot during a demonstration on Thursday, the state prosecutor’s office said, without giving more details.

Maduro, 54, calls his opponents coup-mongers seeking his violent overthrow with U.S. support akin to the short-lived ouster of his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Ortega, the chief prosecutor, launched a blistering attack on Maduro from the steps of the pro-government Supreme Court, criticizing its ruling this week endorsing the assembly plan.

“It seems that participative and protagonistic democracy, which cost Venezuelans so much (to get), is being eliminated,” said Ortega, who broke with Maduro a few weeks ago.

“This sentence is a backward step for human rights,” she added, before reading extracts from a past Chavez speech.

In further political drama, the Supreme Court ordered opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Thursday to avoid roadblocks in the Miranda state that he governs, or face jail.

Miranda includes part of the capital, Caracas, and the volatile towns of San Antonio de Los Altos and Los Teques, where anti-government street barricades have been common.

Capriles, a 44-year-old lawyer, narrowly lost a 2013 vote to Maduro after Chavez’s death from cancer and has been at the forefront of this year’s protests, calling for civil disobedience.

Authorities have already barred Capriles from running for new political posts for 15 years, over allegations of “administrative irregularities” that he denies, potentially hobbling another bid to run in 2018.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Eyanir Chinea and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Hay, Toni Reinhold and Paul Tait)

Mexico’s top diplomat says Venezuela is no longer a democracy

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray delivers a message to the media after a meeting with Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico's and Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo (not pictured) in Mexico City, Mexico, May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ginnette Riquelme

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s top diplomat Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday that Venezuela is no longer a functioning democracy, one day before foreign ministers from across the Americas are due to meet to discuss the crisis gripping the South American country.

The comments mark one of the most aggressive critiques of the government of Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro to date from Videgaray, the former finance minister and close confidant of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

“We have to call things by their name, and what we have here is a country that, in fact, has ceased to be a functional democracy and this is a tremendously dangerous thing for the region,” Videgaray said at the Americas Conference Series in Miami, Florida.

The conference was organized by the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald news organizations as a forum of international business and government leaders.

Videgaray has been sharply criticized by Maduro’s government but has nonetheless pledged to use all diplomatic channels to help reach a peaceful political solution to the bloody crisis in Venezuela.

Anti-government protests have intensified in Venezuela for two months and left nearly 60 people dead. The country is in a steep recession, with widespread shortages of food and medicine and skyrocketing inflation.

Maduro has said the protests are a violent effort to overthrow his government, and insists that the country is the victim of an “economic war” supported by Washington.

Asked at the forum if Venezuela is governed by a dictatorship, Videgaray said, “Well, I believe that, today, it is not a democracy and we are frankly seeing authoritarian actions,” citing as an example the use of military tribunals to try civilians.

He said the solution to “reestablish democracy” in the South American OPEC nation is in the hands of the Venezuelan people and the Maduro government.

Videgaray said he hoped that a Wednesday meeting in Washington, D.C., of foreign ministers from members of the Organization of American States could yield a resolution calling for elections in Venezuela, a restoration of the national assembly’s powers, and release of political prisoners.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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)