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AFP
Caracas
Venezuela's government said Wednesday it was sending troops to a western region rocked by violence during anti-government protests, as the United Nations Security Council prepared to discuss the crisis.
The death of a 15-year-old boy meanwhile brought the death toll from weeks of protests to 43 -- a dark milestone that matched the number killed in the last comparable wave of unrest, in 2014.
Looting and attacks against security installations erupted overnight in the state of Tachira, which borders Colombia, authorities said. The state prosecution service said on Twitter the boy was killed"during a demonstration" there.
"I have ordered the transfer of 2,000 guards and 600 special operations troops" to Tachira, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on state television channel VTV.
Authorities said in a report on Wednesday that in Tachira some 20 shops, restaurants and a school were looted, two police stations set on fire and a military outpost attacked with firebombs over the previous night.
One military commander was hurt, it said.
Fernanda Carvalho, 53, told AFP virtually all the food was stolen from her bakery in San Cristobal.
