29 May, 2017
The protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro have claimed 48 lives since they began more than six weeks ago, including supporters on both sides, bystanders and security personnel.
Maduro was undaunted on Tuesday, presenting the proposed 540-member "constituent assembly" as a way to defuse anti-government protests, which he says are part of a US -backed conspiracy to overthrow "21st Century socialism".
Noting that the government-stacked National Electoral Council led by Tibisay Lucena had convened and delayed regional elections for governors and mayors once before, Borges warned Venezuelans against acquiescing to their agenda. The decision sparked further opposition protests following a month of anti-Maduro demonstrations initiated by the Supreme Court's decision to restrict the power of the state's National Assembly which was subsequently canceled.
The South American OPEC member has been racked by strife, with 55 people killed during unrest in the past two months as public anger boiled over due to an economic meltdown that has left many Venezuelans scrabbling to afford three meals a day.
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In Barinas - known as the cradle of the nation's socialist revolution - 19-year-old Yorman Bervecia was killed during a protest, according to the prosecutor's office.
On Monday, opposition supporters and doctors in white robes tried to march to the Health Ministry in Caracas to demand access to proper treatment amid major shortages of medicines ranging from painkillers to chemotherapy drugs. Violent protests against his successor, Nicolas Maduro, have wracked Venezuela since early April, when opposition demonstrators took to the streets to denounce rampant crime, severe food shortages and soaring inflation.
Videos circulating on social media show a man covered in flames fleeing a small mob.
Residents of Caracas awoke on Monday to several smouldering barricades made of rubbish and torn-down street signs.
Mr Maduro said on Sunday that 21-year-old Orlando Zaragoza suffered burns to nearly all his body when he was doused with petrol and set on fire at a protest in Caracas a day earlier.
Maduro said Zaragoza was being treated.
At a news conference yesterday in Georgetown, Diaz urged Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states to stand with the Nicolas Maduro administration which has been rocked by violent anti-government protests.
More than 200,000 protesters rallied overall on Saturday in Caracas and the western city of San Cristobal, according to estimates by the opposition and AFP reporters.
Mr Maduro accused protesters on Sunday of setting fire to a government supporter, saying what he calls "Nazi-fascist" elements are taking root in the opposition's ranks and contributing to a unsafe spiral of violence in the two-month anti-government protest movement.
The executive order issued Thursday marked the second time the U.S. has sanctioned leaders of Venezuela's socialist government since Donald Trump became president this year.
