Tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters marched in
this politically divided country Saturday to back a jailed opposition leader,
who has gone on a hunger strike to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to hold
congressional elections and free prisoners allegedly detained for political
motives. The demonstrations were staged in Maracaibo, Valencia and
Barquisimeto, as well as here in Caracas, in what amounted to some of the
largest protests since government opponents roiled the oil-rich country last
year for several bloody, chaotic weeks. Leopoldo Lopez, a distant descendant of
Venezuela’s founding father, Simon Bolivar, has been in prison 15 months for
backing protests last year that resulted in 43 deaths after a crackdown by
state security forces and militant government supporters.
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