[Peace-discuss] Colombian paramilitaries in Caracas: background information timeline

[Phil Stinard]

This reads better on the website, but it's a good background article anyway.

--Phil

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http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21158

Colombian paramilitaries in Caracas: background information timeline

Translated by Vanessa Carolina del Valle Marcano

Diario Panorama/VTV report:  Panorama (Maracaibo) has published background 
information related to the events last Sunday on the outskirts of Caracas, 
when a group of at least 79 paramilitaries were seized at a ranch owned by 
opposition leader Roberto Alonso. In order to obtain a broader overview of 
the facts and activities preceding the events of the past few days, the list 
has been combined with another compilation published by Venezolana de 
Television on its website.


Background information timeline:

*April 25, 2002 – The Military Intelligence Directorate (DIM) finds a bunker 
with grenade throwers, machine guns, rifles, military uniforms, night vision 
equipment, magazines and artillery at the home of opposition businessman, 
Isaac Perez Recao in Caracas. This was the first of many similar searches.

*August 24, 2002 – Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) National Assembly 
members broadcast a video showing Carabobo Police officers training alleged 
insurgents who possessed M-16A1 missiles. The officers also had other 
high-caliber weapons.

*April 27, 2003 – Patria Para Todos (PPT) leader Jorge Nieves is killed by 
alleged paramilitaries in Apure state, receiving 5 bullet wounds while 
leading a pro-land reform demonstration in Guasdualito, Apure State. Nieves 
had accused dissident General Enrique Medina Gomez of torture and threats.

*On August 27, 2003 – Human Rights activist and attorney at law, Joel 
Castillo murdered. He died from 11 bullet wounds. Alleged members of the 
United Colombian Auto Defense (AUC) had threatened the victim.

*November 7, 2003 – Eleven thousand 762-caliber magazines, 11 TNT torpedoes, 
a FAL weapon, a C4 explosive device, 2 grenades, a tear gas bomb and 
military apparel were found in Aragua state. 140 thousand FAL magazines were 
also found in Vargas State. It is rumored that one of the dissident Altamira 
military officers was the mastermind of these events.

*November 20, 2003–The National Guard (GN) and the Scientific Intelligence 
Police (CICPC) arrested three alleged paramilitaries in Machiques de Perija. 
These three irregulars had a hit list of 11 supposed victims, which included 
the heads of INTI, DIEX, CICPC and GN. They were also charged as responsible 
for the murder of Joel Castillo.

*March 30, 2004 – A radical group of Cuban exiles named the “F4 Commandos,” 
headquartered in Miami, offers training and assistance to Venezuelans who 
wish to choose the way of “belligerence” to deal with the political 
situation, making an “enthusiastic call to our sister nations to take back 
the freedom of our homeland through the only available means: the dignified 
response of insurrection.” The group is led by “Commander” Rodolfo Frometa 
and Captain (ret.) Luis Garcia Morales.

*April 10, 2004 – According to The Miami Herald, Venezuelan rebel General 
Felipe Rodriguez, known as “The Crow” ... in hiding for the previous 5 
months ... affirms that he was developing clandestine groups to topple 
president Hugo Chavez and establish a civilian-military transitional 
government in the country. The General assured that 25-30 of the 150 
dissident military officers that participated in the Altamira Square 
protests were part of the clandestine network: “Those commandos who 
exclusively recruit civilians are not quite ready for an effective civil 
resistance, and they act on primitive instinct rather than with proper 
training”

*April 13, 2004 – The Colombian Senate, headed by conservative Enrique Gomez 
Hurtado, approves a communiqué to be sent to the Organization of American 
States (OAS) Secretary General, Cesar Gaviria, in order for this continental 
organization’s Permanent Council to apply the Democratic Charter to 
Venezuela due to the alleged violation of human rights and the social and 
economical crisis that the country is going through.

*April 18, 2004 – US Senator Bill Nelson (Dem.Fla) visits Venezuela for 3 
days and accuses the National Government of being “hostile and unfriendly 
towards the United States.” This Senator sounds like a possible candidate to 
Vice President of the United States along with John Kerry as President.

*April 20, 2004 – The OAS has not considered the Colombian Senate’s proposal 
to apply the Democratic Charter to Venezuela due to the fact that, according 
to Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, the OAS only accepts initiatives from 
governments.

*April 26, 2004 – MVR National Assembly deputy, William Lara, requests the 
Public Defender’s Office to further investigate the “guarimbas” (a plan, by 
which small groups of people blocked traffic and burned trash on key avenues 
in Caracas and other cities).

*April 29, 2004 – (Nuevo Herald) In its “Global Terrorism Trends 2003” 
report, the US State Department assured that Venezuela had offered an 
“inconsistent” cooperation on the war on terror. They point out that “public 
recrimination” from President Hugo Chavez and his supporters against US 
anti-terrorist policies “have darkened and obstructed the limited 
cooperation” between specialists and technicians from both countries. The 
report says that Chavez “has expressed his ideological affinity” with FARC 
and ELN guerrillas, which “limits Venezuelan cooperation with Colombia to 
combat terrorism.”

The report carries on by saying that Venezuela is “either incapable or 
unable” patrol the borders between Colombia and Venezuela, and thus, the 
FARC and ELN guerrillas use the area to infiltrate into Venezuela, 
considering it a “safe place” to hide.

“In addition, weapons and ammunition, part of which come from Venezuelan 
arsenals, continue to go from Venezuelan providers to Colombian terrorist 
organizations” states the report, without identifying exactly whom these 
accusations refer to. The report indicates, “it is not clear to what extent 
the Venezuelan government approves or condones the material support of the 
Colombian terrorists and at what levels.”

    * “The efforts of the Venezuelan security forces to control their side 
of the border and intercept trafficking of weapons are not effective.”

The report highlights that terrorism is not concretely mentioned as a crime 
in Venezuelan legislation, even though the country has ratified several 
treaties with the UN on the issue of terrorism. It continues to point out 
that during the past year, local groups have used “terrorist tactics” in an 
attempt to influence the dim political situation, especially in Caracas.

*May 3, 2004 – Roger Noriega, United States Secretary of State for Latin 
America, encourages other countries in the region to put pressure on 
Venezuela over the implementation of the recall referendum on President Hugo 
Chavez.

*May 5, 2004 – US Democrat Presidential candidate, John Kerry, assures that 
Venezuelan democracy is in danger. In an interview on the Spanish news 
channel Univision, Kerry pointed out that the current president of 
Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, “is rapidly on his way to becoming a dictator.” He 
also said that democracy in Venezuela is “at risk” and demands for the 
accomplishment of the recall referendum against the Venezuelan Head of 
State, just as the opposition is demanding.

Relations between Washington and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will 
worsen if he continues to support “violent groups” in the region, warned 
Otto Reich, Special Envoy of the White House National Security Council to 
Latin America

*May 6, 2004 – Venezuelan ex-President Carlos Andres Perez assured a 
Colombian radio station that Hugo Chavez must be toppled from office by 
force, since all peaceful resources for that purpose had failed, “We are 
willing to kick him out of office, convinced that it will not be in a 
peaceful manner, but rather by force,” Perez declared on Colombia’s Radio 
Caracol.

*May 8, 2004 – Alleged army deserter, soldier Jesus Barroso, claimed that 
staff from the private television channel Globovision instigated him to 
offer a false version of the events at Fuerte Mara; he decided to speak out 
after he felt his life was in danger when he was imprisoned at a ranch after 
his first statement. Barroso ratified that his statements to Globovision 
cameras were not in any way true, for he was not on duty on the day of the 
events, thus being unable to be a witness of what happened at the 
Disciplinary Area of Fuerte Mara.


PROFILE: Who is Roberto Alonso?

Roberto Alonso, owner of the ranch where a large number of paramilitaries 
were arrested, is the creator of the “guarimbas” and brother of 
Cuban-Venezuelan singer and actress Maria Conchita Alonso.  He was born in 
Cienfuegos, Cuba and arrived to Caracas on September 5th, 1961. He is 
currently married to Siomara Etcheverry and has 4 children.

The National Government has accused him of being an “opposition leader who 
participated in the assault to the Cuban embassy in 2002 and of being the 
author of the guarimbas.”

>From Alonso’s website: “Since December 2nd, 2002, the day on which the 
national strike began, Roberto Alonso began his campaign of ‘Alerts’, 
sending his articles to over 80,000 e-mail addresses, which receive these 
essays almost daily, alerting about the danger that Venezuela is in of 
falling into the eternal and international trap of Castro-communism”

>From one of the “Alerts”, titled “The problem isn’t getting rid of Chavez”, 
we take an excerpt: “Let’s talk straight. Getting rid of Mr. Chavez could be 
easier than peeling tangerines with long fingernails. It happened once, and 
that was done “accidentally, but on purpose”…. After much evaluation, there 
is no doubt that the only thing we need would be to create a crisis similar 
to the one on April 11th, where we could even prevent deaths.”

“…To prevent deaths – at least in large quantities – an anarchic explosion 
is required; uncontrolled, unarmed, in the largest cities of Venezuela, 
under the condition that it would happen, or in the worst case, that it 
starts and people would start joining in without hesitating too much.”


Guarimba code:

In May 2003 and February 2004, Roberto Alonso wrote about the guarimba ... 
he reported in his essays that there is a Radical Defense Movement (MDR), 
but that it would not be the one making guarimbas happen. “Our job, for now, 
is simply suggesting it and explaining the plan… The Guarimba will last as 
long as it needs to in order to get rid of an unconstitutional government… 
The best thing that could happen in Venezuela is for us to topple an 
illegitimate president by means of the guarimba. The guarimba is very 
charming ... there isn’t enough military personnel or bullets in the 
Venezuelan Armed Forces to stop it. If applied correctly against the regime, 
it would not be able to resist an afternoon.”

Translated by Vanessa Carolina del Valle Marcano