Venezuela opposition defiant as protesters shot dead

Venezuela's opposition vowed no letup in its bid to remove leftist President Nicolas Maduro from power, even as more protesters were shot dead in an increasingly violent political crisis.
Maduro's center-right rivals yesterday said they would go ahead with new street protests Wednesday, despite a wave of unrest that has seen 26 people killed this month in clashes involving protesters and security forces.
In the latest unrest, prosecutors said a 23-year-old man died from being shot in the head with a shotgun in overnight protests in northwestern Lara state. They did not immediately say who was believed to have been responsible.

Maduro's own attorney general meanwhile fueled opposition criticism that the authorities are repressing protests.
Luisa Ortega, who has emerged as a rare public critic within Maduro's camp, said demonstrators were being arrested and tried without due process.
She cited one example where the arrest sheet for a group of people hauled in by the national guard in the northeastern state of Nueva Esparta gave no details on their alleged crimes.

"What were they doing? What behavior led to their arrest?" she said at a news conference.
"We cannot charge them with a crime when there isn't the slightest information to do so... I am obligated to guarantee due process."

Ortega said nearly 1,300 people had been arrested in this month's protests.
The death toll has now reached 26, including four "adolescents," she said. More than 400 people have been injured.
The opposition blames Maduro for shortages of food, medicine and other essentials in the oil-rich country.
Maduro says the crisis stems from a US-backed capitalist conspiracy.
He has resisted more than a year of efforts to force him from office, though he said over the weekend that he was willing to hold regional elections that have been postponed indefinitely.
With few options left to get rid of him before the end of his term in 2019, the opposition is urging all-out street rallies to push for elections.

"Let us not surrender. If we manage to keep up this pressure we will achieve change," said senior opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara.
"On Wednesday we will return to the streets" for a march in central Caracas to pressure state institutions loyal to Maduro, he said.