02/29/2020 - 18:14
- Clarín.com
- World
A march led this Saturday by opposition leader Juan Guaidó in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto was attacked with shots and stones in an incident that left at least five injured.
Some 2,000 supporters of Guaidó, head of the Venezuelan Parliament, were mobilized by Barquisimeto when bursts of detonations began to sound and the mobilization dispersed.
The opposition congressman Alfonso Marquina blamed "Collectives", civilians similar to Chavismo that the adversaries of the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro denounce as "armed paramilitary groups."
" With guns, with stones, they exercised violence ... We have information about a gunshot wounded," Marquina told a news conference.
Neither the Lara government nor the mayor's office, controlled by the ruling party, have reported what happened.
"Some guys grabbed me by the hair, knocked me down (on the ground) and put a gun to my head : 'damn, we're going to kill you,' 'Gabriela Urrutia, a 23-year-old protester, cried crying.
The march in Barquisimeto was part of Guaidó's attempts to rekindle protests against Nicolás Maduro.
Guaidó called to demonstrate against the government on March 10 with a march to the seat of Parliament, in Caracas.
"These people were armed to fall on lead and rocks," said Maria Contreras, a 65-year-old woman.
Protesters regrouped after the riots to complete the planned tour. " We beat the dictatorship and its violence, " Guaidó said on Twitter, renewing his call for protests on March 10.
Together we beat the dictatorship and its violence.
We traveled with our people the most popular sector of Barquisimeto.
The # 10Mar will walk together to unify our flags of struggle in the #PliegoNacionalDeConflicto.
Lets go to the street! #LaraUnaSolaLucha! pic.twitter.com/aph8CiqcJ5
Street demonstrations against Maduro have lost strength while the president resists the opposition offensive.
They went from congregating hundreds of thousands of people in January 2019, when Guaidó proclaimed himself interim president after the opposition majority of Parliament declared Maduro "usurper", a few hundred in recent months.
The popularity of the legislative leader, meanwhile, fell from 63% to 38.9% over the past year, according to the pollster Datanlisis.
With agency information.