CARACAS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's Vice President on Friday said investigations show the death of anti-government protester Neomar Lander "was planned."
Officials said on Thursday that Lander was killed when a "homemade explosive" device detonated, but more details of the incident later emerged.
"All this terrorist action was planned, the death was planned," Tareck El Aissami told reporters at a press conference on Friday, citing video footage filmed by someone from a nearby building.
That eyewitness noticed a drone was flying over the victim at the time of the blast.
"One of the witnesses identified, exactly at the time the tragic death occurred, a drone in the vicinity," said El Aissami, adding a total of six witnesses corroborated the same version of the event.
The vice president criticized the leaders of the conservative political opposition for failing to "retract" their initial version of the incident, maintaining Lander was killed by the impact of a tear gas bomb lobbed by the police.
El Aissami accused opposition leaders of being the "real assassins," saying "they are the ones behind this spiral of terrorist violence."
Since anti-government protests against the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro resumed in April, 67 people have died in daily demonstrations.
