Scottish Catholic Observer

The photo above (main pic) was taken on Monday in the municipality of Tovar, in the state of Mérida, and shows two priests walking down the middle of the road, arms raised, toward a group of Bolivarian National Guard officials.

A 19-year-old demonstrator had been wounded five minutes before the photo of the priests was taken.

The clergy reportedly wanted to convince the national guardsmen to stop shooting so that the young man could be taken to a medical centre, but officials denied that request and the young man ultimately died.

Pictured inset, are five young Catholic priests who walked in front of tanks, managed to negotiate and stop them from advancing on a crowd gathered near a church on Friday, July 28.

The confrontation took place in the city of Ejido, in the state of Mérida.

A large crowd had gathered for the funeral of Rafael Vergara, a young man who had been killed in one of the many demonstrations taking place around the country.

As people walked to the church, a number of tanks of the Bolivarian National Guard began moving towards them.

The priests stopped the funeral, walked towards the talks and asked them to go away.

At least 113 deaths have been recorded in nearly four months of protests in the country.