DISAPPEARANCES, AN ONGOING CONTROVERSY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001316

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
USAID DCHA/OTI FOR RPORTER
DRL/PHD FOR JDAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2013
TAGS: PHUM PGOV VE
SUBJECT: DISAPPEARANCES, AN ONGOING CONTROVERSY


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B
) AND (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) The Democratic Coordinating Committee (CD) announced
March 9 that eight opposition protesters had disappeared
during the February 27-March 5 political disturbances.
Subsequently, one of the eight reappeared, and the GOV denied
that the remaining seven were missing, citing the lack of
complaints by their relatives. Opposition sources maintain
that something happened to the seven but lack firm
information. Human rights organizations have been unable to
confirm the status of the allegedly missing individuals, who
are likely no longer missing but too frightened to come
forward. In addition to these seven, the disappearance of
Dario Gonzales on March 5 was reported by his mother and
publicized in the press March 30. End Summary.


2. (U) The Democratic Coordinating Committee (CD) announced
March 9 that eight opposition protesters had disappeared
during the February 27-March 5 political disturbances.
Miguel Pacheco, a Democratic Action party activist, was
detained March 3 in Cumana, Sucre State. Since security
forces failed to notify his family of his detention, he was
listed as disappeared. Pacheco reappeared March 10 in Puerto
Ordaz, Bolivar State with signs of torture, according to the
human rights NGO COFAVIC.


3. (U) The whereabouts of the remaining seven protesters
(Omar Morales, Juan Perez, Juan Sanchez, Andres Bastidas,
Jose Rodriguez, Eduardo Miranda, and Julio Gomez) is still a
matter of dispute. Abdel Naime, president of the Freedom
Commandos (linked to the radical Democratic Bloc),told the
CD that the seven, all members of the Freedom Commandos, had
been protesting in or near the central highway of Caracas
when they were detained by the National Guard and Military
Police. Naime told the CD he believed all seven had been
killed. D'lsa Solorzano, head of the CD Judicial Commission,
told reporters April 10 that the CD released the names to the
media in an attempt to find out what happened to them.


4. (U) German Mundarain, Human Rights Ombudsman, issued a
statement March 29 denying that the seven men were missing.
He noted that the CD had called on their families to provide
more information and to make formal complaints of the
disappearances, but none had done so to date. The lack of
complaints, Mundarain implied, indicated that no one was
missing. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel similarly
discounted the allegations.


5. (C) Lisette Behrens of the CD's Judicial Commission told
poloff April 6 that she has serious doubts regarding the
reliability of the information provided by Abdel Naime.
Behrens says she has known Naime for several years and
described him as "radical and crazy." In addition, she finds
it strange that the families of the missing men have
completely refused to provide any information to the CD. She
believes the most plausible explanation is that the men were
detained and later released, and they and their families are
now too frightened to come forward with complaints or even
the news that the missing persons have been found. Her
theory is somewhat bolstered by the opposite actions taken in
another disappearance reported by the daily TalCual March 30.
Dario Gonzalez left his home March 5 and never returned,
according to his mother. Besides taking her son's
disappearance to the press, Mrs. Gonzalez filed a missing
persons report with the authorities.


6. (U) COFAVIC investigated the cases of the seven men
reported missing by Abdel Naime but was unable to discover
their fate or confirm anything at all regarding what happened
to them, according to a report issued March 18.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) It is probably true that the opposition released the
names of missing people in the hope of obtaining information
on their whereabouts, as the CD's D'lsa Solorzano says.

Reports of disappeared protesters, however, have been used by
the opposition as a political weapon against the GOV with
little apparent regard for the reliability of the
information. The explanation suggested by Lisette Behrens,
that frightened families are keeping silent to protect the
former detainees, seems likely.
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01316 - CONFIDENTIAL