US condemns murder of opposition politician before Venezuela election

Venezuela opened an investigation on Thursday into the murder of a local opposition leader days before an election that is stirring fears of renewed political violence in the volatile South American Opec nation.

Luis Díaz, leader of the opposition Democratic Action party in Guarico state in Venezuela’s central plains, was shot during a public meeting on Wednesday night in the latest of several violent incidents during the campaign.

The US condemned the killing and called on the Venezuelan government to protect all political candidates.

“This was the deadliest of several recent attacks and acts of intimidation aimed at opposition candidates,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “Campaigns of fear, violence, and intimidation have no place in democracy.”

The Venezuela public prosecutor’s office said two of its prosecutors, aided by police investigators, would lead the investigation in Guarico.

“He received a bullet after being present in a campaign event,” it said in a statement on Díaz’s death.

“There was a burst of 10 shots and he fell on the floor covered in blood,” said Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who was on stage near Díaz when he was shot.

Democratic Action is part of an opposition coalition contesting a 6 December vote for a new national assembly. Polls show the ruling Socialists could lose the legislature for the first time in 16 years.

The high stakes have raised anxiety of a flare-up in political violence. Opposition protests last year sparked violence nationwide killing 43 people and injuring hundreds.

“The bullets were fired by a killer at close range,” the party’s national leader, Henry Ramos, said on Thursday, amending his earlier version that the shots came from a vehicle.

Both President Nicolás Maduro’s government and the Democratic Unity coalition accuse each other of harboring a violent agenda. The South American regional bloc Unasur, which has sent a mission to observe the election, condemned Díaz’s killing.

“We call on the relevant national authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation of this awful incident, to prevent impunity, and we vehemently urge all political sectors to contribute to peace and harmony,” its communique said.

On Wednesday night, Ramos pointed the finger at the Socialist Party for Díaz’s death, but offered no proof.

The ruling party has not responded to Ramos’s accusation. Its vice-president, Diosdado Cabello, has, though, said in general terms the opposition is trying to create a false picture of violence by government supporters to swing foreign opinion.

Lilian Tintori, wife of Venezuela’s best-known jailed opposition leader, Leopoldo López, said she was at the event where Díaz was shot and alleged she too had been the victim of two attempted attacks earlier in the day.

The Democratic Unity coalition said three other opposition politicians had also been victims of aggression in recent days, including Henrique Capriles, who lost the 2013 presidential vote to Maduro after the death of former leader Hugo Chávez.

“The killing of Luis Manuel Díaz provides a terrifying view of the state of human rights in Venezuela,” added rights group Amnesty International.