Clashes between demonstrators and security forces have left at least two dead and 50 detainees in Venezuela, on the first day of the 48-hour general strike called by the opposition against the Constituent Assembly that drives the government.
The victims are a 30-year-old man and an adolescent of 16, who died in the western state of Mérida and in Caracas.
The mayor of Mérida, the homonymous state capital, Carlos Garcia, has blamed police officers for the death of whoever has identified as Rafael Vergara, a victim of "repression of the organs of the dictatorship," he wrote on Twitter, without specifying whether it has been Shot as neighbors in the area have said.
Prosecutor 104 of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas has confirmed, in turn, the death of the teenager in a demonstration in the populous neighborhood of Petare, as detailed in the Twitter account of the Public Ministry.
The opposition has said that the strike has been followed by 92%, which has been discarded by Maduro.
The call for the strike has been "defeated" by the "working class" that has obtained "a total victory today against the attempt of an indefinite strike," Maduro said during an act with his sympathizers broadcast on radio and television.
For the opposition, however, the strike was a success: "In total we obtained a 92% participation in the whole national territory", said on behalf of the coalition of opposition parties Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD), deputy Freddy Guevara.
The opposition aims to stop the election of the Constituent Assembly scheduled for Sunday, which in its view would open the doors to the consolidation of the "dictatorship" of Maduro.
The pro-government movement is pushing for this process - which the opposition is trying to prevent by further actions of civil disobedience - in order to "strengthen the revolution" and underpin the "communal state".
Venezuelans are summoned by Maduro to the polls to elect the more than 500 members of a Constituent Assembly also rejected by several nations and international bodies.
Today is the last day of the Constituent Assembly's campaign, and the Chavistas will concentrate on a great event in Caracas.