Over 100 dead in Venezuela political crisis as polarizing vote nears

Caracas: Days before a polarizing vote to start rewriting its constitution, Venezuela is convulsing to a rhythm of daytime strikes and nocturnal clashes. The most recent violence drove the death toll from nearly four months of unrest above 100 Thursday.

Most of the dead in anti-government protests that began in early April have been young men killed by gunfire. The toll also includes looters, police allegedly attacked by protesters and civilians killed in accidents related to roadblocks set up during demonstrations.

The count by the county's chief prosecutor has been highly politicized, with the opposition and other government agencies reporting varying tolls and causes of death that focus blame on the other side.

When Neomar Lander, 17, was rushed bloody and lifeless to a hospital in early June, officials came out within hours to say he had been killed by a homemade bomb he was carrying. Opposition leaders maintained he was hit by a canister of tear gas fired by National Guard troops standing above the bridge where he was found dead.

"They try to question the humanity of the other side as a political tactic, and I think that ends up discouraging and dismaying people," said David Smilde, a Tulane University expert on Venezuela.

The protests began following a Supreme Court ruling that stripped the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its remaining powers. Though quickly reversed, the decision ignited a protest movement against socialist President Nicolas Maduro fueled by anger over triple-digit inflation, hours-long lines to buy basic food items and deadly medical shortages.

The mounting deaths of demonstrators have now become a separate source of outrage for the young people who march during the day and assemble nightly to fight police officers and national guardsmen at improvised barricades across the country.

"The ones who have fallen fighting repression motivate us to keep fighting," said Sandra Fernandez, a 21-year-old university student.

The country's chief prosecutor reported Thursday on Twitter that a 16-year-old was killed at a protest in the capital overnight while a 23-year-old man died at a demonstration in Merida state. A 49-year-old man in Carababo, west of Caracas, was reported killed during a protest later Thursday afternoon.

The three killings pushed the death toll of the political crisis to 101. The oil-rich South American country, which was in the second day of a two-day general strike that shuttered businesses nationwide, has also seen thousands of injuries and arrests.

Opposition leaders urged supporters to mass in the capital Friday at the end of the 48-hour strike while the government prepared to hold a vote Sunday to elect members of a special assembly for rewriting the constitution.

The opposition is boycotting the vote, saying the election rules were rigged to guarantee Maduro a majority and arguing that a new constitution could replace democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.

The chief prosecutor's office has released little information about the victims of the unrest, but at least 44 are believed to have been shot while participating in protests. Many of those deaths are blamed on armed motorcycle gangs of government supporters known as "colectivos" who are often seen shooting indiscriminately at protesters while police and soldiers stand by.

"The level of impunity is extremely high, and that continues on to a situation like this," Smilde said.

Compared to a spate of protests that left 43 dead on both sides in 2014, Smilde said, "This time around most of it is coming from government forces, either National Guard and police or 'colectivos' that are aligned with the government."

Security forces have been accused of excessive force but have used mostly non-lethal arms, a tactic that has kept protest deaths relatively low in comparison with the overall level of violence in a country with one of the world's highest homicide rates. An average of 78 people a day died violently last year in this country of 31.5 million, according the non-governmental Venezuelan Violence Observatory.

According to an Associated Press review of prosecutors' reports, the victims of the political unrest have overwhelmingly been male, with only six women killed. They are also mostly young, averaging 27 years old. The youngest was 14 and the oldest 54. At least 22 were students. A handful were police or soldiers. Sixty-nine of the deaths were from gunshots.

Just 21 of the killings have resulted in an arrest or orders for apprehension issued, with nearly half those coming against security forces.

Lander's mother, Zugeimar Armas, who has kept her son's room intact since his death in early June, said that regardless of whether her son was killed by the National Guard or an improvised bomb, she blames the government.

"What need does a 17-year-old boy have to be in the streets?" she asked.