Cracks are beginning to show in Venezuela’s ruling party after a ratcheting up of violence surrounding the deadly street demonstrations demanding President Nicolas Maduro’s ouster.
Public Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, long loyal to Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has become one of the most strident critics of a crackdown on dissent that has left more than 65 dead and hundreds behind bars. On Thursday, she lambasted the president and decried a “brutal repression” against dissidents. Days before, the defense minister made a rare public plea to stop “atrocities” being carried out by the National Guard.
