MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Looting and stray shooting kill twelve more in Venezuela; death toll rises to 21

Eight died electrocuted when they came in contact with a 220 kV cable while looting a bakery. This brings up to 21 the number of fatalities

Twelve more Venezuelans lost their lives on Friday in violence associated with a wave of anti-government demonstrations, including eight who died electrocuted when they came in contact with a 220 kV cable while looting a bakery. This brings up to 21 the number of fatalities since the new wave of protest started in early April.

 Residents said looters saw an opportunity as protests in El Valle, an impoverished neighborhood in southwest Caracas, grew stronger and more chaotic. Witnesses said they saw men coming down carrying guns and sticks.

In addition to those electrocuted, three others died hit by bullets allegedly shot by police force trying to stop the mayhem in El Valle, where a total of 17 stores were looted.

Witnesses said the looting began after police officers fired tear gas and buckshot at demonstrators blocking a street with burning tires.

Separately, a man was killed by a gunshot in a different protest in the Caracas slum of Petare on Thursday night, municipal mayor Carlos Ocariz said on Friday.

President Nicolás Maduro's government is so far resisting the pressure of the most serious protests in three years as opposition leaders push a series of political demands, drawing support from a public angered by the country's collapsing economy.

Ruling Socialist Party leaders describe the protesters as hoodlums who are damaging public property and disrupting public order to overthrow the government with the support of the Venezuela oligarchy and “imperialist” Washington.

“This wounded and failed opposition is trying to generate chaos in key areas of the city and convince the world that we're in some sort of civil war, the same playbook used for Syria, for Libya and for Iraq,” said Socialist Party official Freddy Bernal in an internet broadcast.

Opposition leaders have promised to keep up their protests, demanding that Maduro's government call general elections, free almost 100 jailed opposition activists and respect the autonomy of the opposition-led Congress.

A white-clad “silent” march in Caracas on Saturday to commemorate those killed in the unrest, and a nationwide “sit-in” blocking Venezuela's main roads on Monday have been programmed.

The OPEC nation's economy has been in free-fall since the collapse of oil prices in 2014. The generous oil-financed welfare state created by late populist leader Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor, has given way to a Soviet-style economy marked by consumer shortages, triple-digit inflation and snaking supermarket lines.

About 9.6 million Venezuelans – almost a third of the population – skip meals in order to feed their children, according to the Living Conditions Survey of several universities.