Venezuela shooting: At least one dead after troops fire on indigenous people near Brazil border
Soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas, says mayor of Gran Sabana region
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Your support makes all the difference.At least one person has been shot dead by Venezuelan security forces during a clash on the border with Brazil, according to local officials.
Another dozen people were injured after troops opened fire in the eastern town of Kumarakapay on Friday, according to doctors and witnesses.
Gran Sabana mayor Emilio Gonzalez identified the woman who was killed as Zoraida Rodriguez, a member of an indigenous community.
The mayor said members of the Pemon indigenous group clashed with the Venezuela National Guard and the army, who were moving tanks to the border. Mr Gonzalez claimed the soldiers fired rubber bullets and teargas.
Some members of the area’s indigenous community have expressed their support for the opposition’s plans to bring in foreign aid over the border this weekend, despite the objection of President Nicolas Maduro.
The embattled president closed his country’s border with Brazil late on Thursday amid an escalating standoff over allowing aid from the US to enter the country.
Some Venezuelans crossed over into the Brazilian border city of Pacaraima, near Kumarakapay, to stock up on supplies shortly before the border was shut, according to Brazilian media.
Brazilian authorities are reportedly still moving humanitarian aid to the country’s northern border with Venezuela. On Friday Brazil’s airforce sent a plane with food and medicine to Boa Vista in the northern state of Roraima. These will end up in Pacaraima, according to Associated Press.
Mr Maduro said he was also considering shuttering the border with neighbouring Colombia. The opposition has vowed to move aid from the US and other nations over the border from Colombia on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday, an opposition lawmaker travelling across Venezuela in an attempt to collect the humanitarian aid at the Colombian border said somebody threw two large rocks at a bus in her caravan.
Mariela Magallanes of the opposition-controlled National Assembly said the pre-dawn incident was a direct attack that left a backup driver injured. Ms Magallanes said the rocks went through the windshield on the passenger side. She said the driver was being treated for injuries.
Duelling concerts near the border between Venezuela-Colombia border are set to take place later on Friday.
Richard Branson is sponsoring a Live Aid-style concert featuring dozens of musicians including rock star Juanes in Colombia, while Mr Maduro’s socialist government is promising a three-day festival dubbed Hands Off Venezuela on the other.
“The eyes of the world will be on Venezuela,” opposition politician David Smolansky said.
Six hundred tons of aid, largely donated by the US, has been sitting for two weeks in a storage facility at the Tienditas International Bridge, close to where Mr Branson’s concert will be held.
Mr Maduro denies that any crisis exists, insisting the aid is a ploy by the Trump administration to overthrow his government. His military has placed a large tanker and two containers in the middle of the Tienditas bridge to block any supplies getting across.
Additional reporting by agencies
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