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Opposition Activist's Killing Was Gang-related, Venezuelan Official Says


An activist of the opposition Justice First party holds a poster showing how to vote in congressional elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 26, 2015 — a day after Luis Diaz, a leader of the opposition Democratic Action party, was shot and killed.
An activist of the opposition Justice First party holds a poster showing how to vote in congressional elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 26, 2015 — a day after Luis Diaz, a leader of the opposition Democratic Action party, was shot and killed.

Venezuelan police have determined that the November 25 murder of an opposition activist during a campaign rally for the upcoming congressional vote was the result of a gang dispute and not linked to politics, the interior minister said Wednesday.

Luis Diaz, a local leader of opposition party Democratic Action, was gunned down in Guarico state. His party's national leader, Henry Ramos, pointed the finger at the Socialist Party for Diaz's death.

"We are demonstrating the truth of what happened," Interior Minister Gustavo Gonzalez told reporters, " ... a death among criminals and mafia members disputing territory."

"It is up to the political leaders to explain why this sort of person was in this position," he added.

Opposition leaders have been denouncing what they say is hostility toward their candidates, including several incidents of shooting in the air during campaign events.

Diaz's slaying drew swift condemnation from the United Nations, the United States and the South American regional bloc UNASUR, which has sent a mission to observe the election.

Venezuelans vote Sunday in congressional elections that polls show could hand the opposition control of the legislature amid voter frustration over chronic product shortages, soaring prices and a shrinking economy.

President Nicolas Maduro said the opposition's treatment of Diaz's death was meant to tarnish the reputation of the Socialist Party in the run-up to the vote. One party leader threatened to sue Democratic Action for defamation.

Campaigning formally ends Thursday, and Maduro has appeared around the country at televised rallies promising a major victory for the Socialist Party.

At a rally in Lara state Wednesday, he said he had ordered the detention of a supermarket manager after spotting queues outside a store.

"They were well-stocked but they made the people suffer in line," he shouted to supporters. "It's a psychological tactic used by these bourgeois bandits."

He previously described another incident in which a supermarket manager was detained for the same reason. "Where we see ... people are made to queue, there will be prisoners!" he said.

The president has said he will jail the manager of Kraft Heinz' Venezuelan operations if the company is found to have committed "sabotage."

Critics blame strict government controls and mismanagement for shortages of basics — leading to long lines — and say such detentions are part of populist measures that fail to address fundamental problems.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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