Robbers shot dead Ricardo Durán Trujillo, a prominent ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, near Durán's home in Caracas on Tuesday night, prosecutors said.
The emergency decree gives Venezuelan authorities special temporary powers to boost production and ensure access to key goods, including taking command of companies' resources, and to impose currency controls.
As Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro prepares to give the annual State of the Nation address, the country is facing one of the world's most painful, and predictable, economic collapses.
Venezuela's opposition moved Wednesday to try to break the country's political deadlock by removing from the state legislature three of its deputies rejected by the government.
Venezuela sank deeper into a messy political crisis Tuesday as the opposition-controlled National Assembly suspended its session after the Supreme Court declared it null and void.
Venezuela's opposition launched an offensive Wednesday against President Nicolás Maduro at its first full session in control of the legislature, having vowed to oust him within six months.
CARACAS – Venezuela's opposition on Tuesday took control of the legislature for the first time in 17 years but failed for the time being to clinch the two-thirds "supermajority" it had hoped for.
Venezuela's highest court on Wednesday effectively blocked the two-thirds majority that the opposition won in this month's landmark legislative elections by suspending the inauguration of three incoming lawmakers.
Venezuela could be headed for economic and humanitarian chaos in 2016, warn two former South American presidents just back from observing that country’s Dec. 6 parliamentary elections.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri, in his first trip abroad since assuming office, inserted himself into an international dispute by calling for the release of prisoners in Venezuela that human rights groups say are being held for political reasons.
