WHEN CHAVISTAS ATTACK: OPPOSITION ACCUSATIONS/GOV

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001116

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID DCHA/OTI FOR RPORTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: WHEN CHAVISTAS ATTACK: OPPOSITION ACCUSATIONS/GOV
DENIALS

REF: CARACAS 00809

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for reasons 1.4
(B) and (D)

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Summary
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1. (C) The Coordinadora Democratica (CD) documented 210
assaults on opposition supporters by civilians or
plainclothes security forces between February 27 and March 5.
National Assembly Deputy Pedro Diaz Blum (Proyecto
Venezuela) told poloff March 17 that National Guard troops
allowed armed Chavistas to fire at opposition crowds during
Caracas, Merida, and Valencia protests. Opposition and GOV
leaders argued whether the murder of two opposition activists
taken from a Caracas mini-bus was politically motivated or
drug related. GOV leaders assert armed criminals or
opposition provocateurs are responsible for protest deaths,
not security forces or pro-GOV civilians. End Summary.

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CD: 210 Attacks by Civilians/Plainclothes Police
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2. (C) Coordinadora Democratica (CD) Judicial Advisor D'lsa
Solorzano told poloff March 23 that the CD has documented 210
politically-motivated assaults on opposition supporters by
groups in civilian cloths between February 27 and March 5.
Determining how many of the attackers are civilians is
difficult, Solorzano acknowledged, because the CD figures
include plainclothes security forces and civilian groups
mixed with off-duty and/or undercover security forces.
Solorzano said the assailants could be armed fanatics of
President Hugo Chavez (Chavistas),more organized pro-Chavez
Bolivarian Circle members, pro-Chavez criminal gangs, GOV
security forces in plainclothes, or any combination of the
groups. Still, she asserted armed Chavista civilians were to
blame for most of the cases.

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Chavistas Attack/Kidnap Demonstrators February 27
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3. (C) Solorzano claimed about 10 civilian Chavistas attacked
her and other marchers on a side street after the National
Guard broke up the February 27 march in Caracas. She said
the group used National Guard issue rifles and tear gas bombs
and were protected by a National Guard motorcyclists. One of
her escorts was beaten and she received a minor blow to her
leg. Solorzano claimed armed Chavistas attacked other
marchers on side streets, while the National Guard clashed
with the head of the march "where the media was focused."
Seven protesters, now listed as missing, were forced into a
van by civilians February 27, according to Solorzano.


4. (C) National Assembly Deputy Pedro Diaz Blum (Proyecto
Venezuela) told poloff March 17 that National Guard troops in
Valencia "didn't have to" fire at opposition protesters
because armed civilians did it for them. Diaz Blum said
relatives in Valencia saw armed Chavistas February 27 firing
weapons at opposition crowds from behind National Guard
troops, resulting in one death. Although he conceded
determining the degree of Guard cooperation with armed
civilians is difficult, Diaz Blum suspected civilians or
off-duty soldiers provide National Guard commanders
deniability for casualties and allow them to skip asking rank
and file to fire on crowds. He claimed violent Chavista
groups also used soldiers for cover and/or protection in
Caracas and Merida. Chavista civilians are more organized,
armed, and integrated with security forces since Chavez's
brief ouster April 11, 2002, Diaz Blum asserted. He claimed
a GOV source told him 200,000 Venezuelans have visited Cuba
for political training that included civil defense courses,
now being used to combat protesters.

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Chavistas Responded to Merida Governor's Battle Cry
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5. (C) Consular Agent Michele Lee told poloff March 24 that


Merida Governor Florencio Porras called on Chavistas "to take
back the streets" March 3, after days of student-led
protests. After nightfall, Chavista civilians responded and
dispersed several small opposition protests by shooting into
the air, at burning tires, at apartment buildings, and at a
student government building, according to Lee and student
leader Nixon Moreno (ref). Moreno brought testimony to
poloff March 11 about the March 2 shooting of Argenis
Dugarte, allegedly by the pro-Chavez student group Utopia.
Dugarte died early on March 3.


6. (C) MVR Deputy Luis Velazquez told poloff March 24 that an
alleged Chavista attack on a student government building in
Merida March 3 "simply did not occur" and that investigators
would expose it as an elaborate opposition hoax, despite
CICPC comments that the shooters meant to kill. Velazquez
refused to talk about details of this or any case,
purportedly due to the ongoing nature of the investigations.
He claimed armed opposition infiltrators were responsible for
dead and injured protesters.

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Mini-Bus Murders: Blaming the Victims
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7. (C) Two of the deaths that occurred during the February 27
- March 4 confrontations blurred political/criminal lines.
Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) activist Gustavo Farias told
poloff March 19 that a pro-Chavez gang/political party called
the Tupamaros killed two opposition leaders (Dictor Damas and
Jose Luis Ricaurte Blanco) the night of March 3. Farias said
a group of opposition leaders in the 23 of January barrio
decided to cancel a protest after Tupamaros staked out the
publicized location. Four of the leaders were later accosted
in a mini-bus and taken to the El Calvario neighborhood by
armed, masked civilians, where each was shot twice in the
head, two fatally, according to Farias and press reports. He
worked with the four men in the sports promotion office of
Caracas Metropolitan Mayor Alfredo Pena.


8. (C) Farias said one of survivors (Hebert Eduardo Vela) was
transferred to a hospital at an undisclosed private hospital
in Miranda, with help of Miranda Governor Enrique Mendoza and
Pena. Tupamaros allegedly cased the first hospital and have
been spreading pamphlets with death threats for helping the
survivors or implicating the group. Farias claimed the other
survivor, Dimas Marcano, told him he was grazed by one bullet
and another missed him entirely. Farias suspects Marcano,
who abandoned the Tupamaros for the opposition six months
ago, was either spared by his former colleagues or may be
Tupamaro plant.


9. (C) Although National Investigative Police (CICPC) have
kept Marcano's identity a secret, daily El Universal
published a complete list of victims March 16, based on
charges made by the Tupamaros that all four were drug
dealers. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said that he
would wait for the investigation to comment, but then noted
he also had heard the victims were drug dealers. Mayor Pena
defended his employees, and characterized the murder as
politically motivated.

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GOV Blames Armed Opposition Civilians
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10. (U) At a meeting with diplomats March 16, Vice President
Rangel implicitly denied GOV complicity with armed civilians.
In addition, he said the National Guard can not be
responsible for any shootings because they are not authorized
to use "arms of war" in crowd control and, in any event, the
bullets are the wrong caliber. (Note: opposition contacts
reported security forces using non-standard weapons to
conceal their involvement.) Rangel blamed the opposition for
being "excessive" by using Molotov cocktails and firing on
security forces, supposedly proven by numerous bullet marks
on National Guard tanks.

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Comment
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11. (C) The GOV's denial of an armed pro-GOV civilian
presence during the February 27 to March 5 protests
contradicts video evidence of armed groups in civilian
clothes walking the streets and attacking protesters. Post
finds it much likelier that these groups are Chavistas than
opposition agent provocateurs. Even if some were undercover
security forces, they would still be illegally using "weapons
of war."
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01116 - CONFIDENTIAL