SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela, (Reuters) – A teenager was fatally shot at an anti-government protest in the western city of San Cristobal yesterday, state officials said, exacerbating tensions in Venezuela amid an economic crisis and crackdown on the political opposition.
A policeman was arrested after he confessed to shooting the student, identified as Kluiver Roa, 14, with a rubber-bullet shotgun during clashes with some 20 hooded protesters, officials said.
With last year’s violent protests and 43 deaths fresh in Venezuelans’ minds, President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government condemned the killing and called for calm in the volatile state of Tachira near Colombia.
Tachira’s head of citizen security said Roa died in confusing circumstances during confrontations near the ruling party governor’s home.
“These hooded protesters intercepted four police officers, snatched their motorbikes and to get rid of the protesters, one of the officials shot at the ground,” Colonel Ramon Cabezas told reporters.
“When the protesters scattered … we saw the students lifting the body of this youngster from beneath a car, we don’t know for now how he got there.”
Police officer Javier Mora, 23, will be charged over the death in coming hours, the state prosecutor said.
