CARACAS: The leader of a Venezuelan opposition party in the northwestern state of Lara was shot in the head and killed by unidentified attackers, authorities said Friday.
German Mavares, the state head of the New Time party (UNT), is the latest in a string of state and local politicians killed in Venezuela -- though it is often difficult to establish whether the killings are politically motivated or simply random violence in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates.
Mavares was walking down the street Thursday night in the state capital, Barquisimeto, when two attackers approached on a motorcycle, ripped his cell phone from his hands and shot him dead, prosecutors said.
Venezuela registered more than 50 murders a day in the first quarter of the year.
Violent crime has increased as the collapse in global oil prices has pushed the major crude producer deeper into an economic crisis, which has also caused widespread shortages and rampant inflation.
Mavares's party is a member of the opposition coalition that won control of the Venezuelan legislature in December, the Democratic Unity Roundtable.
The opposition, which blames Socialist President Nicolas Maduro for the crisis, is trying to force him from power with a recall referendum.
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