Around 12 people were killed overnight after looting and violence in Venezuela’s capital amid a rising political crisis. Most of the deaths took place in El Valle. El Valle is a working class neighborhood near Caracas’ biggest military base. As per the Opposition leaders, 13 people were hit with an electrical current while trying to loot a bakery protected by an electric fence.
Days of massive protests on the streets of Caracas against the government of President Nicolas Maduro turned into a violent night in several parts of the metropolitan. Residents in El Valle are seeing the repetitive gunfire, street barricades set aflame and businesses are getting looted.
Notably, mothers and newborn kids had to be evacuated from a maternity hospital Hugo Chavez when it was filled with tear gas.
The violence left 11 people dead in El Valle. All the deceased were men between the ages of 17 and 45. While another death was reported from east of Caracas in El Sucre, six others were injured, said the public ministry.
Opposition leaders accused the government for suppressing protesters with tear gas but no action was taken as businesses were looted. In the meantime, foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez slammed the opposition, saying armed groups regulated by them were accountable for the attack at the hospital.
“We reject and do not accept those irresponsible declarations,” said Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate.
