Venezuela Regime, between a Dissident Colombian Narco-terrorist FARC, and Criminal Gangs; A War has Begun.

The War has Come Home. Part 01.

By Johan Obdola

Members of the dissident Colombian FARC-EP send a message to the Regime of Venezuela

The violence of the fighting in the Venezuelan state of Apure (on the border with Colombia) does not stop growing and the Armed Forces, which are fighting FARC dissidents, have been forced this Tuesday to send more troops while expanding a blanket of opacity that has even led to the number of casualties not being made public.

So far, the information released by official or military sources has been very scarce and the number of soldiers deployed in the area or if they have any additional support is unknown, despite the fact that several organizations have assured that the elite force has been deployed. of the Police, known as FAES. This police group has been denounced for numerous cases of extrajudicial executions and the United Nations Office for Human Rights has called for it to be dismantled.

As part of this information opacity, no official or military source has confirmed which armed group they are facing, despite the fact that the military has released photos with seized uniforms bearing the logos and acronyms of the former FARC guerrilla.

The strategy is an order from the Venezuelan regime is silence. Not a single piece of information reveals the atrocity of the carnage that happens in Apure with the Venezuelan military when the Colombian guerrillas have fiercely attacked them since Friday, April 24.

The authorities reported, on April 5, the death of eight soldiers and nine "terrorists" in the clashes, casualties registered from March 21 to that date.

Venezuelan soldiers carrying the body of their comrades

Last Monday, the Venezuelan forces confirmed the death of several soldiers without determining the number of casualties or wounded that are added to those confirmed until April 5.

The latest fighting added FANB information, began on Thursday and took place "in unpopulated sectors" near the La Victoria village, which is part of the Páez municipality in Apure state.

During the same, they assured that they have "inflicted a significant number of casualties" among their rivals, "achieving the destruction of temporary facilities that they intended to use for their criminal activities," but neither did they determine how many have lost their lives.

Venezuelan army artillery attacking FARC-controlled areas.

The publication of the report coincided with a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), in which it accuses the Venezuelan security forces of the extrajudicial executions of at least four civilians, arbitrary detentions and torture, among other "aberrant abuses" against the population of Apure in the framework of the border combats.

The organization asked the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela to investigate the matter.

"The atrocities committed against Apure residents are not isolated incidents by insubordinate agents, but are consistent with systematic abuses by Maduro's security forces," said HRW Americas director José Miguel Vivanco, quoted in the report - EFE.

Between March 21 and April 5, eight soldiers and nine "terrorists" died, according to a balance offered on the second date. Since then, what seemed like moments of peace had been lived until last Thursday, when the fighting began again. But the number of deaths is unknown.

Colombian's FARC combatants carrying the body of Venezuelan soldiers killed in combat.

The conflict zone is a "key step for drug trafficking routes." This is argued by the BBC, who describes geography as a midpoint in the "mountain ranges and the tropical savannah."

For years, says the media, the place was controlled by the National Liberation Army, a Colombian terrorist group, which in recent times has had to confront FARC dissidents.

This has caused the peace won thanks to “sometimes tacit arrangements for the distribution of rents and territorial control” between the Colombian guerrillas and the Venezuelan authorities to crumble.

Now, it is the Tenth Front of the FARC, which seeks to seize the territory.

Murder of a peasant family

The aforementioned executions affected four peasants from the same family. The FAES took them on March 25 from their home in La Victoria, the report shows.

?They found the bodies a kilometre and a half, in El Ripial, with cuts, gunshot wounds and presumed bone dislocations. Forensic experts concluded that they moved the bodies and that they planted the firearms and grenades that are seen next to their hands, ”the text says.

Emir Remolina, 26, recognized the bodies as those of his parents, his brother and his uncle. And at least 13 people interviewed by HRW stated that the victims were not guerrillas, "but peasants who had lived and worked there for more than 15 years."

The affected populations were La Victoria, El Ripial, Los Arenales, La Capilla and La Osa. In these rural areas, the officers "forced their way into several houses." They never showed a search warrant. They detained the residents, mostly peasants. Those are common practices applied throughout the country by those security forces that follow orders from Maduro.

“The officers ordered the detainees to cover their heads with their T-shirts. They then beat them, threw them to the ground and threatened to kill them, "says the Human Rights Watch report.

Two detainees who were later released confirmed that "they were held in military installations." And the abuses also included the looting of their homes and the destruction of "personal effects, food and household goods.”

Criminal gangs, another serious threat to the regime

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan regime is, as reported this Monday by the director of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC), Douglas Rico, in a "conversation process" with the "criminal organization" that has control of a Caracas area, to which, even, the State security forces have banned access.

"There is, at this moment, a process of conversation with this criminal organization so that, in principle, they lay down their attitude and hand over their weapons," explained Rico, referring to the gang led by Carlos Luis Revete, alias "el Coqui". who keeps the inhabitants of the area, known as Cota 905, and surrounding neighbourhoods in fear.

Who is Carlos Luis Revete, AKA el Coqui

Carlos Luis Revete, alias “El Coqui”, is one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela, and the leader of the mega-gang that controls the Cota 905 sector, southwest of Caracas.

The name of Carlos Luis Revete, alias el Coqui, leader of a gang on Cota 905 in Caracas, began to be heard in 2013. Seven years have passed since his rise to power in one of the criminal mega-gangs of that city.

On February 26, 2020, the El Coqui gang paralyzed the Francisco Fajardo highway, near the exit to Valle-Coche, when they confronted officials from the Special Action Force (Faes) with long weapons and grenades. The Bolivarian National Police.

The latest attack of "El Coqui" criminal gang attacking police forces in Caracas.

On Friday, July 26, 2020, he again made the news when he faced the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (Cicpc) in the Los Laureles de Las Quintas sector. The incident left four officials injured without the troops being successful in the search for the suspect.

On Tuesday, August 25, the Cota 905 gang once again faced members of three police forces, with the result that one Faes member was killed and another official wounded. According to police sources, it all started when unknown individuals tried to take over the headquarters and began firing high-calibre weapons at the officials. The situation forced the Faes and the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) to support the scene.

Despite having charges against him since 2013, for crimes such as robbery, homicide and drug trafficking, Revete enjoys great impunity. The non-aggression pact he reached with the Venezuelan authorities demonstrates the almost total abdication of the state in the marginalized neighbourhoods controlled by mega-gangs.

Despite being one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela, Revete appears to have reached an agreement with the Maduro administration, which allows him to operate with almost total impunity. In addition, he has shown himself willing to violently defend this pact when necessary. In February 2019, his gang murdered seven members of a smaller group led by Elvis Eduardo Castro Troya, alias “El Culón”. It is believed that this massacre was in retaliation for the murder of two soldiers by the Castro Troya gang, which breached the terms of the "pax mafiosa" between the gangs in western Caracas and the Venezuelan state.

Revete is also willing to work with other gang leaders to expand his criminal empire. Government intelligence reports in 2019 indicate that he has allied with Carlos Alfredo Calderón Martínez, alias “El Vampi”, and Garbis Ochoa Ruiz, alias “El Garbis”, to form an even larger gang of about 180 members. 

Nicolas Maduro, who has armed these criminal groups to subdue the Venezuelan population, has been facing challenges from these groups who have expressed that they are willing to fight against the Venezuelan regime because it has destroyed the country.

Another attack of "El Coqui" in Caracas.