Protest stymied after Venezuelan diplomatic win

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — In a major show of force, hundreds of National Guardsmen in riot gear and armored vehicles prevented an “empty pots march” from reaching Venezuela’s Food Ministry on Saturday to protest now-chronic food shortages.

President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government, meanwhile, celebrated an Organization of American States declaration supporting its efforts to bring a solution to the country’s worst political violence in years, calling it a diplomatic victory. The United States, Canada and Panama were the only nations to oppose the declaration.

“The meddling minority against Venezuela in the OAS, Panama, Canada and the U.S., is defeated in a historic decision that respects our sovereignty,” government spokeswoman Delcy Rodriguez tweeted.  

Later Saturday, several hundred student protesters trying to block streets with barricades skirmished with tear gas-firing riot police in Caracas’ wealthy Chacao district in what has become a nearly daily ritual.

There were no immediate reports of injuries as motorcycle-mounted riot police, taunted from apartment buildings, chased protesters through darkening streets.

Earlier, more than 5,000 protesters banged pots, blew horns and whistles and carried banners in the capital to decry crippling inflation and shortages of basics including flour, milk and toilet paper. Similar protests were held in at least five other cities.

All over Venezuela, people spend hours every week queuing up at supermarkets, often before dawn, without even knowing what may arrive.

The capital’s government-allied mayor had refused the marchers a permit to hold the “empty pots” rally, leading opposition leader Henrique Capriles to accuse authorities of trying to criminalize” peaceful protests.

Maduro has faced several weeks of daily student-led protests across the nation that he claims are an attempt by far-right provocateurs to overthrow him. They have been joined by mostly middle-class Venezuelans fed up with inflation that reached 56 percent last year and one of the highest murder rates in the world.