CARACAS, (Reuters) – A Venezuelan opposition party demanded yesterday that President Nicolas Maduro’s government release seven protesters arrested following a weekend fracas outside the hotel of a visiting Cuban baseball team.
The Caribbean Series baseball tournament between the region’s top clubs, being held on Venezuela’s Margarita Island, has this year become a lightning rod for anti-Maduro activists.
Maduro was booed by some in the stadium during the president’s ceremonial opening of the tournament on Saturday, according to videos shown by local media. Foes accuse Maduro of being a stooge for Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel.
Seven people are still being held after a protest on Sunday outside the hotel being used by Cuba’s Villa Clara team. Banners decried Venezuela’s economic problems and its treatment of critics.
“We are not Cuba! Remove the chains!,” read one placard.
Venezuelan authorities accused the demonstrators, whom witnesses said numbered about 200, of pelting the Cuban team’s bus with objects and stopping the players from entering the hotel.
