CARACAS/ SAN CRISTOBAL (Reuters) – At least a dozen protesters arrested in Venezuela remained in jail yesterday and masked assailants burned a bus amid scattered unrest over swelling lines for basic goods, activists said.
Police rounded up 16 people for protesting outside stores over the weekend, according to the opposition MUD coalition, which said four of them were released shortly after.
Rights group Penal Forum said 18 protesters were still behind bars yesterday. The government did not confirm that.
Venezuela is suffering from chronic shortages of goods ranging from diapers to flour that have worsened since an ebb in deliveries over Christmas.
The scarcity has forced shoppers across Venezuela to line up in front of stores before dawn.
The MUD also accused soldiers posted outside shops of banning photos of the lines, which can snake around blocks.
“Not only is the government forcing people to get into humiliating queues … it also wants the lines to be Cuban-style, silent and terrified,” said MUD chief Jesus Torrealba.
On Saturday, an explosive device was thrown into a building of the state phone company Cantv in southeastern Puerto Ordaz city, burning eight vehicles, the government said.
In western San Cristobal, six masked men threw a Molotov cocktail into a parked bus belonging to a university, students said yesterday.
