Venezuela sends troops to border region as violence escalates
Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres says paratroopers will
be dispatched to western border where protesters have clashed In
pictures: protests sweep Venezuela San Cristobal Protesters have
clashed with police and national guard units in San Cristobal,
bringing the city to a halt. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters  The
Venezuelan military plans to send additional troops to a border
region where unrest has been particularly fierce, officials
said, as the government faced growing criticism for its heavy-
handed attempt to subdue a protest movement with nighttime
sweeps that have turned many parts of the country into dangerous
free-fire zones.  The interior minister, Miguel Rodriguez
Torres, said a battalion of paratroopers would be dispatched to
the state of Tachira, on the western border with Colombia, where
protesters have clashed with police and national guard units,
bringing the state capital, San Cristobal, to a halt.  "These
units will enable t