A man was shot dead in southern Venezuela on Thursday during a protest against rising food prices, the military said, amid a coronavirus crisis.
Venezuela experienced a second day of unrest on Thursday in several provincial cities. Dozens of people demonstrated in Upata, a town of about 100,000 in the southern state of Bolivar, protesting against "rising prices for food and essentials," says a report by the Venezuelan army which AFP was able to learn about.
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A 28-year-old man was killed by "two bullet holes" in the head during the incidents, the report said, without specifying the source of the shots. Two other people were injured by gunfire, the source said. The Upata demonstration resulted in looting. A supermarket was looted and neighboring shops were vandalized, according to the authorities. At least thirty people have been arrested.
The regional press reported that other protests had taken place in the states of Monagas in the east and Portuguesa in the west. This is the second day in a row that there have been troubles in the interior of the food availability. Seven people were injured Wednesday, including two with firearms, during protests which also turned to looting in the eastern state of Sucre, according to an opposition MP.
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These disturbances occur in the midst of a quarantine decided by the government and applied by the security forces to prevent the expansion of the Covid-19. According to the latest report, Venezuela has 298 cases of contamination and 10 deaths. The virus appeared in a Venezuela in economic and social crisis whose public services collapsed, struck by a galloping hyperinflation and in particular by a shortage of fuel.
