New | Venezuela sends paratroopers to epicentre of protests, as Maduro issues new threat to media

The Venezuelan government ordered paratroopers on Thursday to a border city where growing student protests began more than two weeks ago, with President Nicolas Maduro angrily rejecting US calls for dialogue.

The nationwide demonstrations led by students and the opposition have left at least four people dead and dozens hurt in the biggest challenge to Maduro since he took power from the late Hugo Chavez last year.

There have been near-daily protests and rallies, some of them violent, in the capital Caracas and other cities, over what Maduro’s critics say are deteriorating economic conditions, rampant street crime, corruption and bleak job prospects.

Maduro’s leftist government – which is sitting on the world’s largest proven oil reserves – rushed a battalion of paratroopers to the city of San Cristobal, the birthplace of the demonstrations that began on February 4.

The military response came in response to claims from the government that Colombians were crossing the border there “to carry out paramilitary missions” in Venezuela.

Shops were closed and streets eerily quiet in San Cristobal, capital of the western border state of Tachira, where there have been almost daily clashes between protesters and security forces.

Maduro, meanwhile, threatened to silence CNN – the only source of live news for Venezuelans apart from social media – over what he called the US broadcaster’s “propaganda war”. He shot back at US President Barack Obama, who has urged Venezuela to release detained protesters and address the “legitimate grievances” of its people.