CARACAS: Venezuela erupted in a fifth day of violent protests in a week on Monday, as President Nicolas Maduro traveled to Cuba seeking support from fellow leftist leaders. In the latest clashes in the once-booming oil exporter, riot police in Caracas fired tear gas at stone-throwing demonstrators - whose leaders vowed not to let up the pressure on Maduro. “This is a battle of resistance. We will see who gets tired first: us of fighting, or them of repressing,” said the deputy speaker of the opposition-majority congress, Freddy Guevara. The streets of Caracas and several other Venezuelan cities have been the scene of running battles in recent days. Police deployed water cannons and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators, who hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. On Monday, several patients including a newborn baby had to be evacuated from a medical clinic in the Las Mercedes district after it was struck by tear gas canisters, a doctor there, Luis Montanes, told reporters. One protester was killed on Thursday. Dozens of people have been wounded or arrested.

AFP