ICYMI: Shooting injures 1 at Venezuela candidate’s event

The Associated Press
March 5, 2012

Gunshots were fired during an event where the leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez was visiting a traditionally pro-government neighborhood, wounding at least one person and prompting both political camps on Monday to trade blame for the violence.

Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said that the authorities are investigating Sunday’s violence, in which the son of opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia was lightly injured.

A group of government supporters clashed with backers of opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles as he visited the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas.

In messages on his Twitter account, Capriles accused government supporters of starting the violence.

Garcia said his son, who is also named Ismael, was wounded in an arm.

“The government can’t say it isn’t responsible for this,” Garcia said by phone. He said government supporters from outside the area had come to cause problems, and that Capriles was well-received by many people in the area before the shots rang out.

El Aissami accused the opposition of provoking the violence.

“They went to generate this show,” El Aissami said on state television, according to the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.

He said there was no evidence to back Garcia’s claim that backers of Chavez’s socialist party had opened fire, and he encouraged Garcia to present any evidence to prosecutors.

A prosecutor was appointed to investigate along with the police.

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