Roberto Serra, a prominent left wing politician and close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, was murdered on Wednesday night. Police are investigating the crime and senior government officials have called for calm and for faith in Venezuela's justice system finding the perpetrators. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has expressed his grief over the assassination of Robert Serra, the youngest deputy in the country, who was murdered on Wednesday night. Maduro expressed his immense pain on his Twitter account. Robert Serra, aged 27, was elected at the age of 25 representing a district of Caracas. He was the youngest deputy in the history of Venezuelan parliament and a close ally of the president. Diosdado Cabello, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, the country's parliament, has called for calm as crowds have gathered in the Caracas neighborhood of La Pastora where Serra lived. Cabello visited the crime scene and has urged supporters and sympathizers of Serra to “trust in the institutions”. “To all of our comrades, all of us who feel indignation and anger, we ask them to trust the public prosecutor and all of the institutions that are investigating (the crime), and we will find the all the people responsible for this crime,” he told teleSUR. Ministers, deputies and other officials are at the crime scene, expressing their concern and grief, and helping investigators. “The people of Venezuela have to understand that there will be justice,” Cabello said, adding that “All the security forces are investigating," the crime. The President of the National Assembly praised Serra's commitment to progressive causes and said he was a leader that “whenever a militant was needed, he would be there.” Serra was also a leading youth activist and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's youth wing has expressed its sadness at the death. Earlier, Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said that the motive of the murder is yet unknown. “We do not want to give any information on the motive of the event to the Venezuelans until we have enough information on the ongoing investigations and we can give details (…) what we can assure is that a specialized team of investigators is at the scene to speed up the investigation,” he said. Source URL |
