Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 5 april 2017

Police disperse angry crowds at opposition march in Venezuela

crowd, which later the re- from the Supreme Court’s
assembled on a nearby ruling after strong interna-
highway to shouts of “the tional and domestic criti-
streets belong to the peo- cism.
ple.” But tensions remain high,
Once there, the activists, and the opposition, which
some of them draped in had been beset by divi-
Venezuelan flags and car- sions and struggling to
rying signs that read “No draw people into the
More Dictatorship,” walked streets of late, seems more
toward a giant barricade energized and united than
of riot control vehicles that it has in a long time.
every few minutes would “Our demands are crys-
fire tear gas to push the tal clear,” said opposition
crowd back. leader Henrique Capriles,
Unable to advance, the standing beside a bar-
lawmakers retrenched and ricade of giant boulders
postponed the congres- hastily assembled by activ-
sional session until Wednes- ists to block traffic heading
day downtown. “We all have to
A woman fights with Venezuelan National Police agents during clashes between opposition mem- Ramon Muchacho, a Ca- unite our forces because
bers and police forces in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Venezuelan riot police racas-area mayor, said at Maduro has chosen the
launched pepper spray and tear gas to disperse an angry crowd of several thousand anti-gov- a local hospital that nine path of dictatorship.”
ernment demonstrators trying to make their way to congress. people were being treated An opposition demonstra-
(AP Photo/Fernando Llano) for injuries. One of those tion on Monday was at-
JOSHUA GOODMAN tion lawmakers in a march Chavez emblazoned on its was a 19-year-woman who tacked by pro-government
Associated Press to the National Assembly facade. Residents from in- had her leg crushed by a groups, with two opposi-
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) for a session where they side the building threw bot- motorcycle driven by a Na- tion lawmakers hospitalized
— Venezuelan riot police planned to debate remov- tles on the demonstrators tional Guardsmen. Another with head wounds.
fired pepper spray and tear ing Supreme Court magis- below while taunting them was shot in the leg. But Tuesday’s demonstra-
gas to disperse an angry trates who issued a ruling with loud “Chavez Lives” A video circulating on so- tion was much larger and
crowd of several thousand last week removing the last music and red shirts hung cial media showed a large had the potential to pro-
anti-government demon- vestiges of power from the from their windows. crowd cowering below the voke clashes because pro-
strators trying to make their opposition-controlled con- The crowd fled in multiple overpass from what they government forces were
way to congress on Tues- gress. directions as a small group said was gunfire by pro- staging a rival march of
day in the country’s largest But police blocked the of youths, many with their government groups who their own to the National
and most violent protests in opposition’s planned faces covered, began had been circulating on Assembly.“It’s they who are
months. At least nine peo- route, forcing protesters launching rocks and throw- motorcycles in the areas trying to carry out a coup,”
ple were injured, one of to change their plans and ing themselves against a adjacent to where the pro- socialist party leader Di-
them with a bullet wound. congregate outside a pub- police line. A water tank testers gathered. osdado Cabello told the
The demonstrators were try- lic housing unit with the and anti-riot vehicles were The government over the crowd of mostly govern-
ing to accompany opposi- signature of the late Hugo brought in to control the weekend backed away ment workers.q
Flood-stricken city in Colombia mourns as death toll climbs

ALBA TOBELLA country. his young sister. They finally whereabouts were still un- Friday night and early Sat-
Associated Press Colombian authorities said found her body at the local known three days after the urday.
MOCOA, Colombia (AP) at least 273 people were hospital, able to recognize disaster. “We do not like to cre-
— Lines of people quietly killed when rivers surround- her battered remains be- Much of Mocoa was still ate false expectations but
walked the streets of Mo- ing Mocoa overflowed and cause of her underwear. strewn with rocks, tree where there is a possibility
coa, followed by hearses sent a wall of water and “It is better this way, better limbs, and brown muck. of life we will do everything
carrying coffins to a cem- debris surging through the to know,” Garzon said as Search and rescue teams possible,” said Carlos Ivan
etery where open graves city over the weekend. The he walked alongside the continued to probe piles of Marquez, director of Co-
waited. death toll was expected to car carrying her body to debris whenever someone lombia’s National Unit of
The survivors of the deadly rise since many more were the cemetery. heard a possible sound of Disaster and Risk Manage-
flood that washed through missing and bodies are still “At least we know where movement. ment.
this city in southern Colom- being found. she is.” Many in this city of around Many victims were young
bia were burying their loved Danilo Garzon Garcia, a The Colombian Red Cross 40,000 people still seemed like Garzon’s 14-year-old
ones Monday after authori- 22-year-old resident of the said it has received 374 in shock from the flood, sister. “She had gone to
ties began to release the city, had spent the previ- requests for help from which poured through sleep at a friend’s house.
remains recovered from a ous day searching with families unable to locate the town after a punishing When we got to where the
disaster that has shaken the other family members for loved ones, people whose rainfall as people slept late house was we didn’t find q