Incident 70 km from the border leaves two dead and reinforces war rhetoric.
Indigenous people and Venezuelan military reportedly clashed this Friday (22) in the city of Kumarakapay; a woman and her husband were killed and at least 15 other people were injured - 4 in serious condition - according to authorities in Gran Sabana, where the incident took place.
247 - Indigenous people and Venezuelan military reportedly clashed on Friday (22) in the city of Kumarakapay. A woman and her husband were killed and at least 15 other people were injured - 4 in serious condition - according to authorities in Gran Sabana, where the incident took place.
According to authorities linked to self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó, soldiers opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas when volunteers tried to prevent vehicles from blocking the road.
Despite the blockade, around 9 am this Friday, Venezuelan military personnel allowed two Venezuelan ambulances carrying injured people to pass. The ambulances first went to the Délio Tupinambá Hospital, the only one in Pacaraima, but later left for the General Hospital of Roraima, in Boa Vista, 215 km from the border.
Hospital staff in Pacaraima told the website G1 that the vehicles were carrying at least three people – two of whom had been shot.
On Twitter, Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela, stated that the confrontation in Kumarakapay left 1 dead and 12 injured. The incident perfectly fits the pro-war rhetoric of the governments of the US, Brazil, Colombia, and the Venezuelan far-right opposition.