Local opposition leader reportedly assassinated in Venezuela
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Version 0 of 1. CARACAS, VENEZUELA — A local Venezuelan opposition leader was fatally shot during a public meeting Wednesday, his party said, days before a legislative election that is raising tensions around the politically polarized nation. Armed assailants in a vehicle shot Luis Diaz, head of the Democratic Action party in the town of Altagracia de Orituco in central Venezuela, while he was at a meeting with residents, the movement’s national leader said. “He’s just been assassinated by gunshot,” Henry Ramos tweeted, adding that Diaz was sharing the stage at the time with Lilian Tintori, wife of Venezuela’s best-known jailed opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez. Democratic Action is part of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition about to contest a Dec. 6 election for a new National Assembly in Venezuela. Polls show that the coalition has a good chance of wresting the legislature from the ruling Socialists for the first time in 16 years, which has raised fears of conflict in a nation where politics often creates volatility on the ground. There was no immediate confirmation of the incident from Venezuelan authorities. |