Venezuela: Opposition student leader Julio Soto killed at Maracaibo (Updated)

Photos

Venezuela: Opposition student leaderJulio Soto killed at Maracaibo

see larger image

uploaded by rahul

3 October 2008 Update:  Student leader Jesus Soto was the President of Zulia Student Union. He was an active member of the regional opposition to the Chavez´s administration at the University. It is still unclear who could be behind his killing. The government has suggested it could have been another sad event involving a hit man. Zulia states is rather prone to such criminal activities. Many local indigenous farmers have been killed by hit men in the last years. Zulia is governed by opposition leader Manuel Rosales. Today, another opposition student was killed at another Western state, Merida, during a rift.

Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela. This afternoon, a local oppostion leader - Julio Soto - was kille after receiving twenty shots at Maracibo, Western Venezuela. Soto died as another local student leader, Hernán Chirinos, is under serious condition.

The governement asked for calm while investigations are under way to determine the responsible criminals behind the killing. As Soto was an active member of the opposition, it has been argued his killing was politically motivated. If unresolved, this killing could motivate opposition students to demonstrate in the coming days and prior to the local elections in November 2008.

Source: Globovision, RNV,