The first concentration was before 8:00 AM in the morning on December 8th. The spot: the “wholesalers” market in San Félix. They burned tires and protested. The word spread and in the “Chirica” market, also in San Félix, they decided to close to avoid any looting attempts.
Pableysa Ostos // Correspondent lapatilla.com
“It is rumored that the protest is because the dollar price is very high, both the official and the parallel,” was what some of those who passed by the place commented. Hours later, the “Caroní” bridge was closed, in both directions. This is one of the three bridges that connect San Félix with Puerto Ordaz.
But the reason for the roadblocks in Ciudad Guayana was not only because of the resounding rise of the dollar, but also because of the stoppages in the construction sector and because of the military incursions in townships and mining camps, which have all over the south of Bolívar State for more than a month.
“It is a protest against the abuses of “Operation Roraima”. Here the people of the neighborhoods who live from small (artisanal) mining, who have any type of small business, are affected by the paralysis in the southern municipalities. This led to various neighborhood organizations, social organizations, workers associations to decide to initiate protests in Bolívar State with the peaceful closure of some roads, including the entrance to Upata, the passenger terminal of the “Piar” Municipality, the Upata to San Félix highway at the height of “Preca”, Route II of “Vista al Sol” and the Caroní bridge,” said lawyer José Gregorio Beria.
Mr. Beria explained that the protesters “demand that Major General Julmer Rafael Ochoa Romero, commander of the Bolívar Integral Defense Operational Zone (ZODI), the commander of the Guayana Strategic Integral Defense Region (REDI), M/G Alfredo Román Parra Yarza, and the Operational Command to stop the repressive actions, the abuses against the merchants and small miners in the south of Bolívar State, as they have been the object of extortion, robbery, in an operation that has neither “head nor tail” (haphazard), because they are not persecuting criminals, but damaging the economy.”
They Will Continue on the Streets
Bladimir Josué Tremaria, president of the United Front of Socialist Workers of Bolívar State, explained that “we carried out general roadblocks in the city, in view of the criminal increase in the dollar (exchange rate increase), which is hitting our economy again, as well as the stoppage of all project works in the construction sector, which led the entire construction sector (workers) to migrate in recent years to work specifically in the south of Bolívar State, because mining generated an important alternative, which raised our income and the economy at the national and state level. From there we were able to overcome these last 4 years of pandemic and economic blockade.”
“We see with concern how the security organizations, led by (Gen.) Ochoa, are carrying out acts of violence and violation of human rights in some mining areas, hitting the small miner. They are taking away their assets, they are expropriating them, exploiting all the artisanal work, they are encouraging ecocide,” Tremaria denounced.
The union representative urged the national Executive and the entire government entity to “stop this situation in its tracks.” He explained that in the south of Bolívar “a little gold was extracted with effort, sweat and even tears to take it to their families and to be able to buy a little food. Now due to a whim of this general, I don’t know who he receives orders from, I think he is a right-wing infiltrator who wants to create chaos before the upcoming elections. We make that call to all security forces to keep an eye out for this general.”
They Maintain to be There Legally
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They maintain that artisanal mining is legal, as long as the state is supported. “We have proof that all our mining areas comply with this before the Venezuelan Mining Corporation (CVM). That is why we will continue taking to the streets.”
When asked about the next actions they will take or if they plan to call a “truce”, Tremaria stated: “We are not asking for a truce. We are asking that our right as small miners be respected. We are asking that our mining areas be verified to certify if there is a violation of human rights and to send a team from the Public Ministry, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Vice Presidency of the Republic, because there is an ecocide.”
“For example, in “Las Vainitas” mine, and in all the different mines they want to raze, because we are finishing a processing plant, which would be the first plant made by ordinary miners. It is no longer a foreign investor, a transnational group. We have a processing plant that the miners have built with their sweat and it is about to be started, and now they want to get in to expropriate it, inventing any number of things,” Tremaria pointed out.
What Has Really Happened in the South of Bolívar State?
Operation Autana 2022, in the Sifontes Municipality was launched on October 17th.
It was not the first time this year that the population of Tumeremo, in the Sifontes Municipality, had the presence of mixed (police/army) commissions in the area. Before the October incursion -which was extended until November 2022- there had been another incursion two months earlier (between August 14 and August 18). This military action lasted for more than three days in several mines in the Sifontes Municipality. It was named: “Operation Autana 2022”.
Both “Operación Autana” and “Operación Roraima” had as their supposed objective “the location, neutralization and eradication of Colombian Armed Terrorist Drug Trafficking groups (Tancol) and any element that intends to implant their culture of terror in the state, all this in compliance with the orders issued by the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” this according to official information from the Ministry of Defense.
The images published by the Strategic Operational Commander of the FANB (Bolivarian National Armed Force), GJ. Domingo Hernández Lárez (@dhernandezlarez) show not only the environmental devastation, but also the supposed “organization” of an irregular group that operated in the area under the military operation: weapons, bullets, radios, drones, small planes, helicopters, fuel, camps, among others.
Gen. Hernández also pointed out that they had located mass graves. A military source who is in the sector explained to lapatilla.com that at least three mass graves have been found: one on November 7th, another on November 10th, and the third on November 24th.
Rape Allegations
The lawyer José Gregorio Beria revealed that he was able to talk to some of the people captured during the military operation. “Small miners, ten in total, imprisoned during Operation Roraima. There were five foreigners: four Brazilians, one Guyanese and five Venezuelans. Among the detainees, there are two women: one Venezuelan and the other Brazilian. They told me about the horror they have experienced in the last 25 days since they were arrested working in small-scale mining in the “Sierra Imataca” area, to the south of the inland jungle, where aircraft arrive.”
“One of the women was raped by two soldiers. She is Venezuelan, a young woman in her 40s, a mine worker working as a kitchen helper. The Brazilian was also sexually abused, 300 grams of gold, all her clothes and belongings were stolen from her. The others were beaten and tortured, everything was stolen. For several days, they threatened to kill them and then they brought them in a helicopter belonging to the Armed Forces,” denounced Beria.
Both women are detained at the Ramón Eduardo Vizcaíno Police Coordination Center, located in San Félix. They are just two of the more than 60 women held in that preventive detention center accused of different crimes.
It was learned that an investigation was opened for violation of human rights in the 2nd Prosecutor’s Office in this matter, although the case is also in the Environment Prosecutor’s Office.