Venezuelan opposition member arrested for arson attack

Source:Xinhua Published: 2014-4-4 10:24:22

A member of the right-wing opposition Popular Will party has been arrested for setting fire to the Ministry of Housing and Habitat Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said here on Thursday.

Maduro said the assailant gave authorities the names of the other eight people involved in the attack, which endangered the lives of the ministry's 1,200 employees, as well as 89 children who were at a daycare center there.

"Investigations carried out by the Venezuelan authorities determined that it was a Popular Will party militant," Maduro announced at the presidential office.

The ministry is located in the city of Chacao in opposition-controlled Miranda state, where the governor is Maduro's former rival and presidential runner-up Henrique Capriles, and it was on fire for 25 minutes.

A third of the building was destroyed in the attack. Housing Minister Ricardo Molina said that three of the children at the daycare center later required oxygen treatment.

Molina also complained that municipal security agents failed to respond to the fire, and blamed both Chacao Mayor Ramon Muchacho and Capriles.

Earlier this year, the Popular Will party's leader Leopoldo Lopez was wanted by authorities on charges of inciting violence. He surrendered to police in February amid waves of pro- and anti-government rallies in Caracas, which left three dead.

Posted in: Americas

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