Mérida, October 3rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Thousands of farmer rights advocates marched in Guarico, Venezuela on Thursday to demand an end to impunity for the killings of 220 farmer organizers since the 2001 Land Reform Law was passed. The march was sparked by two recent attacks presumed to have been planned and paid for by large estate owners against well-known land reform activists.
Just outside the state headquarters of the National Land Institute (INTI) on September 11th, two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot José Pimentel, a leader of the Simon Bolivar National Farmers Front, in the body and the head, placing Pimentel in critical condition in a hospital emergency room.
Two weeks later, eight armed men attacked a group of 28 families who had collectively occupied idle sections of a large estate and were in the process of obtaining legal land titles from INTI. The assailants beat several people, destroyed property, shot one leader of the group twice in the legs, and ordered the group to leave the estate, according to a report by the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers Rights Front (FNCEZ), which is named after the legendary 19th Century land reform fighter.
Since 2001, the government has redistributed more than two million hectares (5 million acres) of idle or underused land to small farmers and state-owned enterprises for food cultivation, for the most part by opening up state-owned land and also by expropriating some idle privately owned land.
During this process, however, hundreds of prominent land reform organizers have been attacked, illegally detained, or killed, in what appears to be a campaign led and financed by large estate owners to exterminate those who challenge their privilege and dominion in rural areas.
Following the September attacks, the president of the Farmer Federation of Venezuela, Miguel Moreno, declared that his organization and many other national farmer organizations were in a state of emergency, and remain on 24-hour vigil to protect the lives of their comrades.
Moreno praised the government's efforts to redistribute land, but criticized the judicial system, saying only a handful of investigations of the attacks against farmers have proceeded, and there have been no convictions thus far.
"We accompany the commander and president [Hugo Chavez] in his policy against the large estates," said Moreno. "We do not want to move toward an open confrontation or war in rural zones... we firmly believe in the institutions, we believe in our government [...] But we are tired of being the ones who die."
National Assembly Legislator Braulio Alvarez, who is also a national farmers' rights organizer, connected the killings of farmers to the infiltration of paramilitary groups from Colombia into Venezuela. "We denounce with revolutionary morale the paramilitary activities and hired killings," he said in a press conference in the Foundation for Training and Innovation to Support the Agrarian Revolution (CIARA).
Alvarez also demanded that the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs and the Attorney General's Office open a special investigation and provide protection to farmer rights activists. "How long is the flagrant impunity going to continue?" Alvarez asked.
Officials from INTI, CIARA, the Agriculture and Land Ministry, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), as well as all major farmers rights fronts echoed his demand.
The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) also called for "an exhaustive review of the proceedings on the farmers' cases, through the agrarian courts," but warned that the "opposition sectors" which are responsible for the crimes are in some cases "embedded in the structures of the state." These culprits "utilize police functionaries from the [national investigative police] CICPC," said Eduardo Linarez, the National Secretary for Agrarian and Farmer Affairs of the PCV.
In addition to demanding action by the state, several farmer rights fronts have gradually united forces on the regional and national level. With the support of national PSUV officials, including Agriculture and Land Minister Elias Jaua and Guarico Governor William Lara, these new federations plan to hold a series of assemblies and form armed militias in order to organize and defend themselves against attacks.
"We already have our own organization. What we're going to do now is grassroots reinforcement in the communities and rural settlements," said Argimiro Berroterán, a spokesperson for the National Farmers Front in Miranda state. "The idea is to travel around the whole country to discuss the concerns expressed by different farmer groups, in addition to re-launching this front as an organizational tool in defense of our achievements and for the deepening of the revolutionary process," he added.
Minister Jaua, who is also a regional vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), spoke to the crowd at Thursday's march. "We must consolidate popular strength in rural Venezuela and among the fishers... in order to prepare the conditions for the formation of a great popular and revolutionary organization in the National Fishers and Farmers Front, to concretize the deepening and construction of the Bolivarian Revolution," said Jaua.
According to Jaua, farmer militias may be formed as early as this December for the purpose of farmer self-defense in rural Venezuela. "The Bolivarian government is willing to confront the oligarchy and the large estate owners by way of the law... but if they insist on continuing to act on the fringes of the law, violating our Bolivarian Constitution and murdering farmers, then there will be an armed response," said the minister.
Many farmers' fronts, including the FNCEZ, have advocated armed self-defense for years. The invitation to Thursday's march that the FNCEZ posted on its website calls for, "THE PEOPLE IN ARMS, conscious popular power organized into farmer militias and coordinated by the National Bolivarian Militia and directed by our Bolivarian Armed Forces, in socialist patrols directed and coordinated by our PSUV... with the indisputable leadership of our partner, President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias."
Showing posts with label Venezuela. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Venezuela. Show all posts
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Venezuelan Rural Activists and National Land Institute Workers Arrested for Occupying Estate
Mérida, April 21st 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - Police in Portuguesa state, Venezuela, forcibly evicted more than sixty landless farmers and three National Institute of Land (INTI) workers on Friday from a section of a privately owned estate that the INTI had marked for re-distribution.
The eviction is emblematic of the clash between powerful landed elites and the government of President Hugo Chávez, whose 2001 land reform law permits the state to forcibly purchase idle sections of large private estates for re-distribution as a means to spur agricultural production.
Last week, officials from the INTI and the Socialist Agrarian Fund (FONDAS) announced they would gradually parcel out 926 hectares (2,290 acres) of underused lands on the privately owned El Rodeo Estate to a group of 86 landless families in Portuguesa state.
While INTI personnel were assisting a group of sixty farmers to demarcate a section of the territory last Friday, state police known locally as the Jungle Police staged an "ambush" and ordered the entire group to lie face down on the ground, according to alternative media reporters who have accompanied the farmers in their struggle for land.
The police briefly detained and then released the INTI functionaries and most of the farmers, but arrested and transferred Carlos Ortega and six other farmer rights leaders to the state capital Guanare to be tried for trespassing. Police and National Guard (GN) forces now occupy the disputed lands.
GN Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Saluzzo, who commands the Portuguesa State Police, told the local press, "Our idea is to respect the law... while the land reform law says landed estates are not permitted, the law also establishes sanctions for those who invade private property."
According to independent media reports, Saluzzo has repeatedly threatened to jail Ortega, and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Governor Wilmar Castro has publicly denounced the confrontational land "invasions" promoted by Ortega as a tactic to speed up the process of land re-distribution.
Also, former Portuguesa Governor Antonia Muñoz, who is currently the regional coordinator of the PSUV, created the Jungle Police to be a special force to fight ecological crimes, but the squad has fallen under control of elite regional estate owners and has mainly been used to repress rural activists, according to independent news reports.
On Saturday, a group of eighty allies of Ortega marched to the Portuguesa state police headquarters and demanded the release of the seven arrested organizers, who they alleged had been politically persecuted. The seven activists remain in police custody.
Since the 2001 land reform law was passed, 1,507 small or landless farmers in Venezuela have been arrested as a result of their struggle to gain legal title to lands, according to a growing network of farmers' rights groups nation-wide.
The rights groups, which advocate the reform of Articles 471 and 471 of Venezuela's Penal Code in order to de-criminalize small farmers who occupy private lands, also report that 214 rural activists have been murdered since 2001, most recently Nelson Lopez in Yaracuy state and Mauricio Sánchez in Zulia state in March.
Following the killings in March, several Venezuelan farmer rights groups held a joint conference in Caracas to form a united front against the politically motivated assassinations and arrests of rural activists, and to call for an end to impunity for "the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities."
Agriculture and Lands Minister Elías Jaua attended the conference and promised to appeal to the Attorney General and president of the Supreme Court to accelerate the investigations of crimes against farmer rights organizers.
In an interview on the state television channel VTV Monday, Jaua said that 90% of the private lands re-distributed by the Ministry, which amounts to almost one million hectares (2.47 million acres), are now producing food, including meat, grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Recuperated lands are distributed either to state-owned Social Production Enterprises or to cooperatively run projects such as the Zamoran Farms, named after Venezuela's legendary farmer rights fighter Ezequiel Zamora, said Jaua. Zamoran Farms are now producing food on 155,000 hectares (383,000 acres) of formerly idle private land, the minister added.
After announcing the launch of the Ministry's "Operation Free Land and Men" aimed at recuperating more land in the states of Barinas, Amazonas, Miranda, and Aragua, Jaua said, "we are making a reality of the dream for which generations of humble farmers struggled: That the best lands of our country... be at the service of food production."
The eviction is emblematic of the clash between powerful landed elites and the government of President Hugo Chávez, whose 2001 land reform law permits the state to forcibly purchase idle sections of large private estates for re-distribution as a means to spur agricultural production.
Last week, officials from the INTI and the Socialist Agrarian Fund (FONDAS) announced they would gradually parcel out 926 hectares (2,290 acres) of underused lands on the privately owned El Rodeo Estate to a group of 86 landless families in Portuguesa state.
While INTI personnel were assisting a group of sixty farmers to demarcate a section of the territory last Friday, state police known locally as the Jungle Police staged an "ambush" and ordered the entire group to lie face down on the ground, according to alternative media reporters who have accompanied the farmers in their struggle for land.
The police briefly detained and then released the INTI functionaries and most of the farmers, but arrested and transferred Carlos Ortega and six other farmer rights leaders to the state capital Guanare to be tried for trespassing. Police and National Guard (GN) forces now occupy the disputed lands.
GN Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Saluzzo, who commands the Portuguesa State Police, told the local press, "Our idea is to respect the law... while the land reform law says landed estates are not permitted, the law also establishes sanctions for those who invade private property."
According to independent media reports, Saluzzo has repeatedly threatened to jail Ortega, and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Governor Wilmar Castro has publicly denounced the confrontational land "invasions" promoted by Ortega as a tactic to speed up the process of land re-distribution.
Also, former Portuguesa Governor Antonia Muñoz, who is currently the regional coordinator of the PSUV, created the Jungle Police to be a special force to fight ecological crimes, but the squad has fallen under control of elite regional estate owners and has mainly been used to repress rural activists, according to independent news reports.
On Saturday, a group of eighty allies of Ortega marched to the Portuguesa state police headquarters and demanded the release of the seven arrested organizers, who they alleged had been politically persecuted. The seven activists remain in police custody.
Since the 2001 land reform law was passed, 1,507 small or landless farmers in Venezuela have been arrested as a result of their struggle to gain legal title to lands, according to a growing network of farmers' rights groups nation-wide.
The rights groups, which advocate the reform of Articles 471 and 471 of Venezuela's Penal Code in order to de-criminalize small farmers who occupy private lands, also report that 214 rural activists have been murdered since 2001, most recently Nelson Lopez in Yaracuy state and Mauricio Sánchez in Zulia state in March.
Following the killings in March, several Venezuelan farmer rights groups held a joint conference in Caracas to form a united front against the politically motivated assassinations and arrests of rural activists, and to call for an end to impunity for "the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities."
Agriculture and Lands Minister Elías Jaua attended the conference and promised to appeal to the Attorney General and president of the Supreme Court to accelerate the investigations of crimes against farmer rights organizers.
In an interview on the state television channel VTV Monday, Jaua said that 90% of the private lands re-distributed by the Ministry, which amounts to almost one million hectares (2.47 million acres), are now producing food, including meat, grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Recuperated lands are distributed either to state-owned Social Production Enterprises or to cooperatively run projects such as the Zamoran Farms, named after Venezuela's legendary farmer rights fighter Ezequiel Zamora, said Jaua. Zamoran Farms are now producing food on 155,000 hectares (383,000 acres) of formerly idle private land, the minister added.
After announcing the launch of the Ministry's "Operation Free Land and Men" aimed at recuperating more land in the states of Barinas, Amazonas, Miranda, and Aragua, Jaua said, "we are making a reality of the dream for which generations of humble farmers struggled: That the best lands of our country... be at the service of food production."
Friday, 13 March 2009
Venezuelan Farmer Rights Organizations Unite to Oppose Assassinations by Landed Elite
Mérida, March 13th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Several Venezuelan small farmer rights organizations united forces this week to prevent further assassinations of rural community organizers. The groups also marched to demand that the national government end impunity for those responsible for these crimes, and to support the government’s land reform and food security measures.
“This popular front must struggle against impunity, against hired killings, and against paramilitarism,” declared coalition leader Inder Herrera during the founding congress in Caracas on Tuesday.
The new front plans to team up with student activists, community councils, artisanal fisher organizations, and some state security forces to prevent any further assaults on rural community organizers.
Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez passed a land reform law in 2001, 214 rural activists have been murdered during their campaigns to carry out the law, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers Front.
Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly legislator and the coordinator of the Simón Bolívar Farmers Front, said further investigations could reveal that that the actual number of politically motivated murders of rural organizers is more than 400.
The formation of the new front follows the assassination last Monday of Mauricio Sánchez, who had been leading the struggle for land reform in southern Zulia state, and farmer rights organizer Nelson López, who was shot 15 times in the back two weeks ago in Yaracuy state.
The government has arrested those suspected of having carried out the murders, but the farmers are calling for a national investigation of what they say is a network of large estate owners and private cattle ranchers associations who gave the orders for the crimes.
“We consider it important and transcendental that we investigate to the fullest and without hesitation the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities,” said Herrera Tuesday.
Venezuelan Agriculture and Land Minister Elías Jaua attended Tuesday’s conference and promised to solicit a national investigation.
“We have come to listen to the proposals of this popular farmers’ movement and to express the government’s commitment not to allow this situation to continue,” said Jaua.
“One of the most atrocious crimes is that somebody dies while struggling for a piece of land, that’s why we are going to ask for an appointment with the Attorney General and the president of the Supreme Court to speed up these investigations,” said the minister.
Over the past two weeks, the Agriculture and Land Ministry and other government entities have taken under public ownership two privately owned rice processing plants that were caught hoarding food and evading price controls, and thousands of hectares of underused or idle land, in accordance with the 2001 Land Law and 2008 Law on Food Security and Sovereignty.
The measures come shortly after a national referendum in which Venezuelan voters approved a constitutional amendment to abolish term limits on elected offices. Following the referendum, President Chávez said his administration will correct its past mistakes by deepening its policies aimed toward the construction of “21st Century Socialism.”
The farmer rights organizations marched through Caracas Monday to support the government’s expropriation of socially irresponsible businesses and private estates, and to demand an end to impunity for those who ordered the murder of farmers.
“We completely support the measures that our Commander Hugo Chávez has taken to occupy rice plants,” said Herrera to the press. “We must deepen the revolution,” he said as the marchers gathered in front of Venezuela’s most powerful private business association and symbol of anti-government activity, FEDECAMARAS.
Minister Jaua recognized the need for the government to work with social movement organizations such as the farmer rights fronts in order for the hired assassinations to cease and the national food security policies to be effective.
“We receive this support from the farmers and we are filled with strength to continue the battle we are waging to guarantee the right to food security to the Venezuelan people,” said the minister.
“This popular front must struggle against impunity, against hired killings, and against paramilitarism,” declared coalition leader Inder Herrera during the founding congress in Caracas on Tuesday.
The new front plans to team up with student activists, community councils, artisanal fisher organizations, and some state security forces to prevent any further assaults on rural community organizers.
Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez passed a land reform law in 2001, 214 rural activists have been murdered during their campaigns to carry out the law, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers Front.
Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly legislator and the coordinator of the Simón Bolívar Farmers Front, said further investigations could reveal that that the actual number of politically motivated murders of rural organizers is more than 400.
The formation of the new front follows the assassination last Monday of Mauricio Sánchez, who had been leading the struggle for land reform in southern Zulia state, and farmer rights organizer Nelson López, who was shot 15 times in the back two weeks ago in Yaracuy state.
The government has arrested those suspected of having carried out the murders, but the farmers are calling for a national investigation of what they say is a network of large estate owners and private cattle ranchers associations who gave the orders for the crimes.
“We consider it important and transcendental that we investigate to the fullest and without hesitation the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities,” said Herrera Tuesday.
Venezuelan Agriculture and Land Minister Elías Jaua attended Tuesday’s conference and promised to solicit a national investigation.
“We have come to listen to the proposals of this popular farmers’ movement and to express the government’s commitment not to allow this situation to continue,” said Jaua.
“One of the most atrocious crimes is that somebody dies while struggling for a piece of land, that’s why we are going to ask for an appointment with the Attorney General and the president of the Supreme Court to speed up these investigations,” said the minister.
Over the past two weeks, the Agriculture and Land Ministry and other government entities have taken under public ownership two privately owned rice processing plants that were caught hoarding food and evading price controls, and thousands of hectares of underused or idle land, in accordance with the 2001 Land Law and 2008 Law on Food Security and Sovereignty.
The measures come shortly after a national referendum in which Venezuelan voters approved a constitutional amendment to abolish term limits on elected offices. Following the referendum, President Chávez said his administration will correct its past mistakes by deepening its policies aimed toward the construction of “21st Century Socialism.”
The farmer rights organizations marched through Caracas Monday to support the government’s expropriation of socially irresponsible businesses and private estates, and to demand an end to impunity for those who ordered the murder of farmers.
“We completely support the measures that our Commander Hugo Chávez has taken to occupy rice plants,” said Herrera to the press. “We must deepen the revolution,” he said as the marchers gathered in front of Venezuela’s most powerful private business association and symbol of anti-government activity, FEDECAMARAS.
Minister Jaua recognized the need for the government to work with social movement organizations such as the farmer rights fronts in order for the hired assassinations to cease and the national food security policies to be effective.
“We receive this support from the farmers and we are filled with strength to continue the battle we are waging to guarantee the right to food security to the Venezuelan people,” said the minister.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Murder of Small Farmer Rights Organizer Sparks Protests in Yaracuy, Venezuela
Mérida, February 20th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Small farmer rights groups plan to march across the city of San Felipe in Venezuela’s Yaracuy state this Saturday to demand that the hired assassins of Nelson López, a small farmer rights organizer, be brought to justice.
López, who was shot fifteen times in the back last Thursday, is the 213th small farmer (campesino) to be murdered since 2001, the year the government of President Hugo Chávez passed a sweeping land reform law which set the conditions for re-distribution of idle sections of large estates to small farmers, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers’ Front (FNCEZ), one of the groups convoking Saturday’s marches.
According to Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly deputy and farmer rights organizer from Yaracuy state, the directors of the National Cattle Ranchers Association and the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDENAGAS), along with two powerful landowners, were responsible for planning López’s murder.
“How much longer will the murder of small farmers at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries and hired assassins, financed by large estate owners and FEDENAGAS, remain in impunity?” Álvarez asked during a town hall meeting organized by the Unified Regional Agrarian Command (CRAU) in Yaracuy on Thursday.
FEDENAGAS and the other implicated cattle ranchers associations have not issued a response to the accusations.
The FNCEZ, Venezuela’s Culture Ministry, the regional director of the Agriculture and Lands Ministry, three leaders of the small farmer rights movement, and several members of the National Association of Free, Alternative, Community Media (ANMCLA) were also present at the town hall meeting.
These organizations demanded that the Venezuelan Attorney General dismiss Yaracuy District Attorney Alejandro Márquez for having accused Nelson López of being an “invader” of private property, and District Judge Linda Lugo for having served the interests of large estate owners and FEDENAGAS against small farmers in Yaracuy.
The organizations also spoke of the “historical debt” owed to small farmers, based on the oppression experienced by small farmers at the hands of the Spanish oligarchy for several centuries.
López, who was shot fifteen times in the back last Thursday, is the 213th small farmer (campesino) to be murdered since 2001, the year the government of President Hugo Chávez passed a sweeping land reform law which set the conditions for re-distribution of idle sections of large estates to small farmers, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers’ Front (FNCEZ), one of the groups convoking Saturday’s marches.
According to Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly deputy and farmer rights organizer from Yaracuy state, the directors of the National Cattle Ranchers Association and the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDENAGAS), along with two powerful landowners, were responsible for planning López’s murder.
“How much longer will the murder of small farmers at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries and hired assassins, financed by large estate owners and FEDENAGAS, remain in impunity?” Álvarez asked during a town hall meeting organized by the Unified Regional Agrarian Command (CRAU) in Yaracuy on Thursday.
FEDENAGAS and the other implicated cattle ranchers associations have not issued a response to the accusations.
The FNCEZ, Venezuela’s Culture Ministry, the regional director of the Agriculture and Lands Ministry, three leaders of the small farmer rights movement, and several members of the National Association of Free, Alternative, Community Media (ANMCLA) were also present at the town hall meeting.
These organizations demanded that the Venezuelan Attorney General dismiss Yaracuy District Attorney Alejandro Márquez for having accused Nelson López of being an “invader” of private property, and District Judge Linda Lugo for having served the interests of large estate owners and FEDENAGAS against small farmers in Yaracuy.
The organizations also spoke of the “historical debt” owed to small farmers, based on the oppression experienced by small farmers at the hands of the Spanish oligarchy for several centuries.
Till when the assassination of Venezuelan peasants at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries?
Office of Culture paraYaracuy Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Demanding the cessation of killing of peasants in the hands of paid assassins, Fedenaga and landowners.
Until when will be continued the impunity and the killing of peasants in Venezuela, in the hands of paid assassins and paramilitaries in Colombia, funded by landowners and Fedenagas? Aren't enough the deaths of 213 agricultural leaders since 2001, after it was enacted the Land and development Act , and Nelson Lopez being the last victim of this permanent terrorism, when he was shot fourteen times in the back on February 12 in the Bartola in Bruzual Municipality Yaracuy state?
That is what he said the peasant leader and member of the National Assembly at the state of Yaracuy, Braulio Alvarez referring to the deaths on demand, of farmers in this region and across Venezuela during an act of repudiation against impunity and killing on demand, indicating as intellectual responsible the president of the National Association of Cattlemen, Genaro Mendez, Fhandor Quiroga, president of Fedenagas Yaracuy, the landowner Luis Gallo and members of the family of Lecuna Di Battista for the death of the yaracuyano farmer Nelson Lopez.
Death to impunity
During this event organized by the Regional Agrarian Unified Command, this Thursday at the Cinemateca in San Felipe, attended as support for this voice of protest the Legislative Council deputy in the state of Yaracuy, Ivan Aparicio, the leader of the Peasant Movement Jirajara, Joel Pineda, Kamal Hassan representing the Ministry Cabinet of Culture, the regional director of the Ministry of Agriculture and lands, Gabriel Gil, the peasant leader Laura Lawrence and Henry Fernandez of the National Association of Free and alternative Community Media (ANMCLA).
On April 10 -assured Congressman Alvarez - Genaro Mendez was in Yaracuy to meet with local leaders of Fedenagas and proselytizing in favor of NO, and he took the opportunity to launch the following warning "Mr President Chavez, if you do not take measures against criminals and land invaders, then we will take the law into our hands and we will do justice", then two days later they killed Nelson Lopez when he was entering his home.
Historical Debt
Similarly we demand the inhibition of the prosecutor II of the Public Ministry, Alejandro Marquez responsible for the investigation of this crime, for having managed earlier a record against Lopez which still remains open, as of the judge for the National Agricultural Circuit Yaracuy, mrs Linda Lugo, for having promoted on countless opportunities with her flawed decisions the interests of yaracuyanos landowners.
These 213 farmers killed in collusion with Colombian paramilitary forces and Fedenagas only were asking to be the producers in land which in the past was snatched from their indigenous ancestors, for our African ancestors later to be slaves and afterwards to become pawns of the same land, assured at the end of the meeting Braulio Alvarez that also has been once victim of an attack against him.
www.aporrea.org
Demanding the cessation of killing of peasants in the hands of paid assassins, Fedenaga and landowners.
Until when will be continued the impunity and the killing of peasants in Venezuela, in the hands of paid assassins and paramilitaries in Colombia, funded by landowners and Fedenagas? Aren't enough the deaths of 213 agricultural leaders since 2001, after it was enacted the Land and development Act , and Nelson Lopez being the last victim of this permanent terrorism, when he was shot fourteen times in the back on February 12 in the Bartola in Bruzual Municipality Yaracuy state?
That is what he said the peasant leader and member of the National Assembly at the state of Yaracuy, Braulio Alvarez referring to the deaths on demand, of farmers in this region and across Venezuela during an act of repudiation against impunity and killing on demand, indicating as intellectual responsible the president of the National Association of Cattlemen, Genaro Mendez, Fhandor Quiroga, president of Fedenagas Yaracuy, the landowner Luis Gallo and members of the family of Lecuna Di Battista for the death of the yaracuyano farmer Nelson Lopez.
Death to impunity
During this event organized by the Regional Agrarian Unified Command, this Thursday at the Cinemateca in San Felipe, attended as support for this voice of protest the Legislative Council deputy in the state of Yaracuy, Ivan Aparicio, the leader of the Peasant Movement Jirajara, Joel Pineda, Kamal Hassan representing the Ministry Cabinet of Culture, the regional director of the Ministry of Agriculture and lands, Gabriel Gil, the peasant leader Laura Lawrence and Henry Fernandez of the National Association of Free and alternative Community Media (ANMCLA).
On April 10 -assured Congressman Alvarez - Genaro Mendez was in Yaracuy to meet with local leaders of Fedenagas and proselytizing in favor of NO, and he took the opportunity to launch the following warning "Mr President Chavez, if you do not take measures against criminals and land invaders, then we will take the law into our hands and we will do justice", then two days later they killed Nelson Lopez when he was entering his home.
Historical Debt
Similarly we demand the inhibition of the prosecutor II of the Public Ministry, Alejandro Marquez responsible for the investigation of this crime, for having managed earlier a record against Lopez which still remains open, as of the judge for the National Agricultural Circuit Yaracuy, mrs Linda Lugo, for having promoted on countless opportunities with her flawed decisions the interests of yaracuyanos landowners.
These 213 farmers killed in collusion with Colombian paramilitary forces and Fedenagas only were asking to be the producers in land which in the past was snatched from their indigenous ancestors, for our African ancestors later to be slaves and afterwards to become pawns of the same land, assured at the end of the meeting Braulio Alvarez that also has been once victim of an attack against him.
www.aporrea.org
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