Venezuela seeks release of eight soldiers kidnapped more than 20 days ago

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Venezuela announced this Saturday that it is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to generate the “necessary conditions” to help free the eight military personnel kidnapped last April 23 by Colombian irregulars in a border area where fighting has been taking place since March.

The announcement came in the midst of the criticism received by the Government for not having pronounced itself on this fact the last week after it was denounced last Sunday by the human rights NGO Fundaredes.

The Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, said while reading a statement through the state TV channel VTV that the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry coordinates with the ICRC actions for the “prompt release” of the eight military personnel, whose identities were not disclosed.

After his statement, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza indicated, through Twitter, that his office is working with the organization to generate “together with the necessary conditions for a safe and prompt release”, without going into further details.

THE KIDNAPPING OF THE SOLDIERS

According to a communiqué received by the ICRC from a FARC dissident group, the kidnapping of these soldiers occurred last April 23. Still, it was only today that the Venezuelan government made a statement on the matter.

In the statement, the Minister of Defense indicated that last May 9, the authorities received proof of life from the military personnel. Through VTV cameras, the authorities showed a video without audio of the kidnapped soldiers.

Since last March 21, the Venezuelan Armed Forces have been facing Colombian irregulars in the Colombian border state of Apure, whom they have refused to identify.

According to the opposition and NGOs, the Government does not identify these groups due to the “alliance” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with former members of FARC and ELN.

LITTLE OFFICIAL INFORMATION

The Venezuelan authorities maintain an opacity on how these combats are developing. So far, it has only confirmed the death of eight military personnel and nine “terrorists” between March 21 and April 5 and later said that there were several deaths without detailing a number.

In the same statement today, Padrino López indicated that the groups use “murderous and cowardly methods such as anti-personnel mines and explosive charges detonated at a distance, which caused the death of military personnel and caused serious injuries to others, some of them with the mutilation of limbs and permanent incapacitation”.

According to what Fundaredes indicated on Wednesday, the eight kidnapped soldiers were part of a group of 38 troops that went in two helicopters to a sector in Apure to destroy some drug laboratories. When some 30 troops descended from the aircraft, they were “surprised on all sides” by “more than 300 guerrillas”.

“They order, a military man by the name of Pérez Torres, orders the withdrawal of the helicopters (…) these officers or these troops are left in the middle of combat, their comrades begin to fall”, said then the director of the NGO, Javier Tarazona, who also denounced the disappearance of three troops.

There is no official information so far about these three missing persons, and precisely, Tarazona criticized that in his statement today, the minister did not offer any information about them.

For Fundaredes, Padrino López’s statements were inaccurate because he did not reveal the identity of the kidnapped and did not speak about the missing.

According to Fundaredes, the eight kidnapped soldiers are lieutenant colonel Jhan Carlo Bemon, first lieutenant Jonny Jaguay, lieutenant Álvaro Junior Florez, sergeant major José Antonio Ramos, second sergeant Estiben José Aular, first sergeant Luis Coba, sergeant major Paul Hernández and first sergeant José Torres.

The Venezuelan opposition maintains that what is happening in Apure is the fault of the Government of Nicolás Maduro and, today, once again, criticized that it does not admit its responsibility.