Commission investigating Venezuela’s fatal clashes to expand

CARACAS, Venezuela – Negotiators for the government and the opposition have agreed to broaden membership in a truth commission that is to investigate who is to blame for 41 deaths tied to weeks of political unrest in Venezuela.

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, one of the outside facilitators in the talks, on Wednesday called the step a sign of “progress” in the effort to calm Venezuela’s political unrest.

But opposition leaders criticized the government for not accepting a proposal for amnesty to be granted to people arrested during the protests. Hundreds of university students staged another anti-government demonstration late in the day, marching barefoot in what they said was penance for the country’s economic and crime problems.

The agreement on the truth commission was announced following hours of negotiations that took place Tuesday night behind closed doors in what both sides described as a much-needed if torturous attempt at dialogue in a nation polarized by 15 years of socialist rule.