Hundreds of university students staged protests in Venezuela on December 9 to condemn the fatal shooting a day earlier of an undergraduate during a demonstration. Protesters assembled in a Caracas plaza chanting “No to violence! No to impunity!” The students marched through the streets and onto a highway, blocking traffic. Protests were also held in other cities to denounce the murder of 20-year-old Jesus Eduardo Ramirez, who was shot in the western city of San Cristobal during a student protest against power cuts and gasoline shortages. The rector of Ramirez’s university said the students had been killed during clashes between opponents and supporters of President Hugo Chavez. The governor of Tachira state, Cesar Perez Vivas, said Ramirez died during an “ambush” of the demonstration which he claimed took place after local leaders of Chavez’s socialist party called for a counterdemonstration. Perez accused armed groups linked to pro-Chavez partisans of being responsible. Authorities say they have yet to determine who was responsible.

By Staff