Venezuela probes 97 security troops for torture [View all]

[Bacchus4.0]

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-probes-97-security-troops-torture-220448854.html



Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela is investigating nearly 100 armed forces and police staff for alleged torture during more than two months of ongoing deadly anti-government protests, authorities said Sunday.

The military's strategic command chief Vladimir Padrino admitted that security forces had committed "excesses" in recent days.

"We are able to say that 97 are being investigated by prosecutors for cruelty, for torture," he told Venevision television.

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President Nicolas Maduro's leftist elected government, with its heavily state-led economy, has blamed the United States, Colombian conservatives and Venezuelan "fascists" for the toughest opposition actions it has faced.

Nearly daily protests began in early February against rampant street crime, soaring inflation, poor job prospects and shortages of such essential goods as milk and toilet paper.