The United States urged Venezuela's government Friday to hold talks with student protesters, as the death toll from nationwide demonstrations hit 17 and new marches were planned in Caracas.
With no sign of a breakthrough after three weeks of escalating street rallies, students and dissidents assembled in the capital to denounce human rights violations allegedly committed by police.
As they did so, President Nicolas Maduro faced renewed pressure from US Secretary of State John Kerry to stop arresting demonstrators and quell violence during protests that have taken hold of the oil-rich country, with citizens angered by high inflation and goods shortages.
"They need to reach out and have a dialogue, and bring people together and resolve their problems," Kerry told reporters in Washington, renewing his criticism of Maduro's government for its heavy-handed response.
"We need a dialogue within Venezuela, not arrests and violence in the streets," said Kerry, adding that the US was working with Colombia and other countries to try and bolster mediation efforts.
The Venezuelan government meanwhile, announcing a rise in fatalities linked to the protests, said it was investigating 27 cases of human rights abuses, though it provided no details of possible wrongdoing it was probing.
Some of the deaths have been attributed to violent clashes with police, but other victims have been shot by unidentified gunmen, whom the protesters have accused of being government agents.
The government has denied all links to such killings but on Friday the man who narrowly lost to Maduro in last year's election to succeed the country's longtime socialist leader, Hugo Chavez, accused the president of hypocrisy.
"The government is talking peace, yet hours later it is practicising repression," said Henrique Capriles, a state governor, adding that the government must realize that a "dialogue is not a monologue."
"It seems impossible -- if you are going to put out the fire you can't put out the fire with gasoline," Capriles told RCN, a Colombian radio station.
Friday's main protest was organized by the Venezuelan Penal Forum, which said it had identified 33 cases of human rights abuses as of Wednesday. At noon (1630 GMT), demonstrators began to gather in the neighborhood of Mercedes, in eastern Caracas.
The US Congress also Friday cited "inexcusable" violence against anti-government protesters, with lawmakers introducing a measure to condemn what they said were oppressive tactics, urging President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on those responsible for the crackdown.
The bipartisan resolution expressed House of Representatives members' firm support for Venezuela's pro-democracy demonstrators and urges other governments and organizations in the region to stand in solidarity with the protesters and help bring about dialogue to end the crisis.
The resolution came one day after Venezuela reportedly issued an arrest warrant for a second opposition figure accused of crimes linked to the protests, including arson, public incitement and criminal damage.
Leopoldo Lopez, of the Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party, turned himself in last week after a warrant went out for his arrest. The party said Thursday that Maduro's embattled government was now seeking Carlos Vecchio, the party's national political coordinator.
Court officials have not confirmed the move against Vecchio. In a tweet, Vecchio said the warrant was politically motivated. "There is no evidence against me," he wrote.
Maduro, who accuses protesters of plotting a coup with support from the United States, met Wednesday with business and church leaders, intellectuals, journalists,
lawmakers and governors at his presidential palace in what was dubbed a national peace conference.
But the main umbrella opposition grouping, known as MUD, stayed away and beyond speeches by the president and other participants, no dialogue took place and no action was taken.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua, speaking in Brasilia, said Friday the government had Brazil's support for a meeting of UNASUR, the South American regional group of countries, to discuss the protests, which he dubbed an "attack on democracy in Venezuela."
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