International News

CARACAS, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – A weekend of looting
and clashes left at least three people dead in Venezuela, authorities said Monday, as anger roiled over a chaotic currency reform that left many without cash.
A man, a woman and an adolescent boy were shot dead when violence
erupted Saturday in the town of La Paragua, in the southern state of Bolivar, the attorney general’s office said.
The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which accuses
President Nicolas Maduro of driving oil-rich Venezuela to the brink of economic collapse, contested the death toll. It said five people had died in the state.
Unrest broke out Friday after Maduro ordered the 100-bolivar bill
removed from circulation before the 500-bolivar bills intended to replace it had arrived.
Desperate Venezuelans looted delivery trucks, burned banks and
clashed with police in towns across the country as the move left them with no cash to buy food.
Bolivar was the state hit hardest by the unrest. A curfew has been in
force there since Saturday, and more than 3,000 troops are patrolling the streets.
Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said 286 people were arrested in the
state, accusing the “Venezuelan far right” of fomenting the violence.
Maduro has likewise blamed the opposition for the unrest.