New death in Venezuela puts toll at level of 2014 unrest

A demonstrators walks by to a burning barricaded on a highway during a national sit-in against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 15, 2017. Opposition leaders are demanding immediate presidential elections. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s chief prosecutor says a teenager who went out to buy flour has become the latest to die in the country’s wave of political unrest after being shot near a protest in western Venezuela.

Fifteen-year-old Jose Guerrero’s death in San Cristobal on Wednesday means the death toll from nearly two months of protests and street clashes is likely to surpass that seen in the country’s last political upheaval in 2014. Three years ago, three months of anti-government demonstrations resulted in 43 people killed.

A day before Guerrero’s death, the chief prosecutor had put the death toll at 42 for protests that erupted after the Supreme Court moved to dissolve the opposition-controlled congress in late March.

Guerrero was killed in Tachira state, where three people have died this week.