EXECUTIONS AND DISAPPEARANCES: “THE MADNESS IN BOLÍVAR WAS HORRIFYING”

The consequences of the state’s excessive actions in Bolívar state were not only evident in the days around February 22, but also for a longer time, as exposed in the Annual Report (April 2018 - April 2019) issued by the Extrajudicial Executions Monitor run by the Commission for Human Rights and Citizenship (Comisión para los Derechos Humanos y la Ciudadanía, Codehciu)

By Luis Alvarenga February 23, 2019 was a day awaited by most of the Venezuelan population, as well as the media and international organizations, since a political sector of the country would achieve the arrival of humanitarian aid across the borders with Colombia and Brazil.

The euphoria caused by a multitudinous concert at the border crossing between Cúcuta, Colombia, and Táchira state, Venezuela, extended from February 22 to beyond February 23, date when the entry of humanitarian aid across Táchira and Bolívar states was attempted.

Since then, however, hell has broken loose in the region. “Marcos Rodríguez” (name changed to protect identity), a teacher at a school in the city, has been a witness to the barbarism committed by state security forces and unidentified armed civilians.

On February 22, the Venezuelan government ordered the closure of the border2 to prevent any action by the opposition and officially increased the military presence in the area, but many unknown people also arrived.

“Here, with the closure of the border, the list of abuses is huge, terrible. The madness here was horrifying and brought out the worst in some people,” notes Rodríguez.

The teacher claims that many people from outside Santa Elena de Uairén and its surroundings were sent to the area to frighten those supporting the entry of humanitarian aid, but the situation worsened.

“The yellow buses, known as Dracula’s buses, came full of criminals and they put them in the Fort Roraima. You could see them and you knew that they weren’t soldiers”, Rodríguez says.

On February 22, social media was full of messages and videos about what was happening in the closed and censored border. Groups of indigenous people who supported the arrival of humanitarian aid were repressed with tear gas and firearms.

“I was in La Línea border crossing the day humanitarian aid came in and after that day they persecuted a lot of people. There are a lot of disappeared people and nobody knows where they are,” Rodríguez says.

The consequences of the state’s excessive actions in Bolívar state were not only evident in the days around February 22, but also for a longer time, as exposed in the Annual Report (April 2018 - April 2019) issued by the Extrajudicial Executions Monitor run by the Commission for Human Rights and Citizenship (Comisión para los Derechos Humanos y la Ciudadanía, Codehciu).

According to Codehciu, the bloodiest month for extrajudicial executions has been March, with 35 recorded cases, followed by April with 24 cases.

“There were thousands of military officers here and you could see extortions everywhere. In Santa Elena de Uairén, they would go to the shops, ask for whatever they wanted and leave,” Rodríguez stresses.

Crimes in the dark

March 2019 saw the largest and longest general blackout in Venezuela’s history. Almost the entire country was left without power, and Bolívar state was no exception.

The virtual standstill of the country was no obstacle for the officers who have the obligation to protect citizens to continue committing human rights violations. The report issued by Codehciu notes that 45% of the extrajudicial executions (63 victims) were committed in the Caroní municipality alone.

The NGO also points out that, according to witnesses and reports, 78.57% of the alleged extrajudicial executions were committed by the Forensic Criminal Investigations Police (Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC), the Army and the Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana, GNB).

“The teacher recalls that “there was a massacre because many of the people who came in buses defected and then they were persecuted. There were days that were 4 or 5 killings, even 9 on one occasion.”

Rodríguez adds that in the border of Bolívar state and in the communities around Fort Roraima, it is known that those who were captured during the days following February 23 have ben subjected to torture, beatings and electric shocks.

“They used to say to people, ‘Do you know all the disappeared? They’re burning in that fire’ and they made a bonfire,” the teacher remembers in fear.

Codehciu reports that, between April 2018 and 2019, 13 people died in custody in Bolívar state, where authorities are responsible for their health and safety, as well as for dignified conditions of detention.

The fear of not knowing what might happen and what happened to the disappeared increases every time flocks of vultures circling Fort Roraima, where Rodríguez has observed columns of smoke in the days following February 23.

Now, the common belief is that there are mass graves near the fort,” he concludes.