Venezuelan Supreme Court Torched as Jailed Opposition Leader Urges Coup

by Lucas Koerner, from Venezuelan Analysis

Venezuela’s Housing Ministry and Supreme Court executive office were attacked Monday as jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez called on the country’s armed forces to “rebel” against the Maduro government.

Opposition leaders rallied their supporters to once again take to the streets in nationwide marches on Supreme Court offices, which ended in renewed violence.

The focus of the unrest was the wealthy eastern Caracas municipality of Chacao, where over 150 masked militants besieged Venezuela’s Housing Ministry with Molotov cocktails and blunt objects.

Opposition supporters destroyed the front gate and reportedly caused damage to the public attention offices in the first two levels of the building, leading the ministry’s employees to flee to higher floors. Ultimately 973 workers were evacuated from the building by firefighters, including 45 children from the ministry’s nursery. Twenty-five children received medical attention, Justice Minister Nestor Reverol has indicated.

According to Minister Manuel Quevedo, the attack is the 15th instance of opposition violence against Housing Ministry facilities nationwide, which have been frequently targeted for their role in building 1.6 million affordable homes for Venezuela’s poor.

The Supreme Court’s Executive Magistracy (DEM) in Chacao was also attacked for the fourth time in 70 days on Monday, leading to the evacuation of the office’s 2500 workers.

Hundreds of opposition supporters surrounded the building, which they proceeded to set on fire with Molotovs and homemade explosive devices in an act photographed by international journalists. Protesters broke into the high court office and carried out pieces of furniture that they subsequently burnt in the streets…

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