On Wednesday, the anti-government protest, dubbed "mother of all protests," as well as pro-Maduro rallies took place across Venezuela. It resulted in deaths of three people, including Paola Andreina Ramirez Gomez, a 23-year-old student. The protest continued on Thursday.
"The person responsible for the death of the young woman, Paola Ramirez, this Wednesday in San Cristobal was detained, the perpetrator of the crime was identified as Ivan Pernia Davila, 31," Reverol said, as quoted by El Mundo newspaper, adding that Davila was a member of the opposition Vente Venezuela party.
The minister said that Davila opened fire at Maduro supporters for at least 20 times during the Wednesday rallies.
Wednesday protests came amid celebration of 207th anniversary of the Venezuela's Declaration of Independence adoption, and a day after 11 Latin American state's governments issued a statement urging Venezuela to guarantee the right to peaceful protest, as enshrined in the Constitution, and to impede any use of violence against the participants of demonstrations.
Venezuela entered turbulent times in January, 2016 when a new legislature was elected and relations between Maduro and the parliament became strained.
In late March, the Venezuelan Supreme Court decided to restrict the power of the state’s National Assembly, but despite the fact that the decision was canceled, supporters of the opposition-controlled parliament, striving for the court members’ dismissal, took to the streets on April 4, marking the start of a series of protests.
