The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis spoke with members of the Caribbean Community Monday night and agreed in principle to lend support to Venezuela during its current wave of unrest, according to Press Secretary Anthony Newbold.

At a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday, Mr Newbold said after speaking with Caricom members over the telephone, Prime Minister Minnis directed Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield to speak on the role the Caribbean Community can have, during a special meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS).

“The minister of foreign affairs is in Washington, DC, Minister Henfield is there and he is there because of the situation in Venezuela,” Mr Newbold said.

“We know there has been unrest there, in fact yesterday Prime Minister Minnis engaged in his first meeting with his counterparts in Caricom, a telephone meeting, where discussions on that were held. (At) the special Organization of American States meeting dealing with the situation in Venezuela, Mr Henfield will talk about the role OAS can play in helping that situation. A decision was agreed to yesterday by Caricom heads, and I will get back to you on that . . . all participating countries will do all they can to bring stability back to Venezuela.”

Three people were killed this week in protests in Venezuela, state television reported, bringing the number of deaths in this month’s political unrest to 24.

Anti-government protests entered a fourth week on Monday with mass sit-ins to press for early elections, it has been reported. Rival protests were also held.

A 42-year-old man who worked for local government in the Andean state of Merida died from a gunshot in the neck at a rally in favour of President Nicolas Maduro’s government, the state ombudsman and prosecutor’s office said.

Another 54-year-old man died after being shot in the chest during a protest in the western agricultural state of Barinas, the state prosecutor’s office added without specifying the circumstances, according to the BBC.

The latest deaths come amid a month of protests that have sparked politically motivated shootings and clashes between security forces armed with rubber bullets and tear gas and protesters wielding rocks and Molotov cocktails, it has been reported.

According to a Reuters count, 11 of those killed died during nighttime looting.

The opposition’s main demands are for early elections, the release of jailed activists and autonomy for the opposition-led Congress.

But protests are also fuelled by the crippling economic crisis in the oil-rich nation of 30 million people, according to international reports.