Venezuela Seeks Protest Leader’s Arrest

{{Venezuelan authorities sought on Thursday to arrest an opposition leader who has been organizing street protests that led to three deaths in the worst unrest since President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed election victory last year.}}

A judge’s arrest warrant, published in local media, said the 42-year-old hardline politician was wanted on charges ranging from instigating crime to murder and terrorism.

Members of his Popular Will party acknowledged there was a warrant for Lopez’s arrest but would not say where he was.

Lopez, who lives in the wealthy Chacao district of Caracas where he was once mayor, accuses Maduro’s government of making him a scapegoat for state-led violence against protesters.

Almost a year after the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez, the bloodshed on Wednesday in the capital Caracas was the latest demonstration of the OPEC nation’s deep polarization and the mutual mistrust between both political camps.

Three people were shot dead after pro- and anti-government marches in Caracas. Maduro said another person was in critical condition, and he blamed “small fascist groups” that he said infiltrated the opposition protest.

{reuters}