The Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, did not take more than 24 hours to react after it was learned through social networks and the press that one of the deceased was an escort of the Minister for the Penitentiary Service, Iris Varela.
Proiuris Report
Erick S. González Caldea
In less than 24 hours, the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Nestor Reverol , deman-ded a formal investigation of the alleged extrajudicial execution of five people, including an escort of Minister Iris Valera, which is known as the Massacre of El Limón.
Family members of Wilmer José Yánez Carvallo, Arquímedes Martínez Fuenma-yor, Andri González Narváez, Roger Blanco Narváez and Pedro Salceda Herrera denounced that officials of the Special Actions Forces (FAES) executed their relatives early this Thursday, June 11, in El Limón, Plan de Piñango street, in the Sucre parish.
Yánez Carvallo’s wife, Solsiré Sorrila , reported that her partner was one of the bodyguards of the minister for the Penitentiary Service, Iris Varela.
Complaints about police excesses committed by FAES agents have been widely verified by national and international human rights organizations. Proiuris has contributed with a sustained documentation of extrajudicial executions in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas and in Lara state, which has allowed the identification and corroboration of 16 performance patterns of the elite body of the Bolivarian National Police.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, was blunt in requesting the dissolution of the FAES. However, Nicolás Maduro himself, through repeated and public messages, has expressed his unconditional support for this group that sows terror in the poor neighborhoods of Venezuela.
On many occasions, Minister Reverol has also publicly supported the FAES and is one of the authorities who echoes euphemisms such as «knock down,» «neutralized,» and «discharged» in an attempt to justify excesses. Never before had Reverol requested a formal investigation of events that could constitute an extrajudicial execution at the hands of the FAES or another state security body; not even when it comes to massacres, that is, when five or more people are killed in the same police procedure.
«After an irregular fact raised in the El Limón, the old road Caracas – La Guaira, where they killed five citizens by a process of FAES, I have instructed to open an investigation of the facts and the officials concerned ”, Said the minister, this Friday, June 12, through his account on Instagram.
He added that the investigation will be directed personally by the head of the Homicide Divi-sion of the Scientific and Criminal Investigations Corps ( Cicpc ), so that he can provide due collaboration to the Public Ministry prosecutors with national competence in human rights.
«Our unshakable premise was, is, and will always be to guarantee citizen security and social peace, respecting human rights and complying with the principles of the use of force that govern our police model,» explains the minister.
Although it is the first time that Reverol has requested an independent investigation, there is still a question of the reasons for requesting it, especially when 85% of the complaints of ex-trajudicial executions are not investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office, according to the investi-gation 100 Death Sentences, carried out by Proiuris.
«Any situation that constitutes a deviation from that mandate or involves irregularities in the established procedures will be duly investigated and, if the denounced facts are verified, those responsible will be punished with the full weight of the law», Reverol writes.
Following the statements of Minister Reverol , the attorney general appointed by the illegiti-mate National Constituent Assembly (ANC), Tarek William Saab, reported on his Twitter ac-count that prosecutors from the Public Ministry are carrying out field criminal actions at the scene of the events.
Saab refers to the fact as an «alleged execution», this type of qualification is not in accordance with the international term, since it denotes the warmongering and dehumanizing discourse used by the security forces of the Venezuelan State.
Alleged execution
In a video published by social networks, William Yanez’s wife , Solsiré Sorrila , recounted the events that led to the murder of her partner, in what is presumed to be an extrajudicial execu-tion.
She narrated that officials from the elite body of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) arrived at the sector at 3:00 am, hooded and with a hostile attitude: “They arrived. They kick the door to knock it down. I was very scared. My husband told them that he worked for the minister, but they ignored him. I asked them to calm down because I have a son with heart disease and the situation could affect him (…) they sent him to put on his clothes and took him away ”.
She said that the officials assured that they were going to take her husband to the headquar-ters of the FAES in Caricuao. “I know who the FAES are, they kill people, they are murder-ers. At almost 4:00 am, the shots were heard outside my house. I didn’t think they had killed him, ” she added.
She emphasized that FAES officials raided their house two more times between 4:00 and 6:00 am. Phones, money, food and clothing were taken from their home, the woman said.
The police report leaked to the press indicates that the victims belonged to a gang called «Los Colectivos del Plan.»
One of the sisters of two of the victims assured that the officials simulated the confrontation and that they tortured the men before executing them.
“They took my two brothers out, put (the firearms) over their heads and had them sitting on the floor of the neighborhood with their heads covered by sheets. Then they got the other three up; They began to distribute them: two up, one in the corner and two down there. I saw all that. After the shots they had them lying down ”, denounced the relative.
After executing the citizens, the officials collected the casings of the bullets, took weapons from their bags and placed them in the surroundings, and then took photographs of them, witnesses indicate.
The victim’s sister, who did not provide her name, added that FAES officials acted as guides to the Cicpc detectives to show her the evidence. «Tell me, is that the law? Is it authori-ty? They weren’t thugs, «he said.
