By Lorena Bornacelly.
In the southern area of the state of Tachira, four bodies got found over eight days, according to the NGO Fundaredes. The corpses belong to persons kidnapped in the Apure state and then murdered an abandoned hundreds of kilometers away, in the southern area of the Andean region.
Three of the victims identified: Jose Abenavide Jimenez Rojas (44 years old), who resided in San Camilo, El Nula, Apure State, was found in the Irco subdivision in the Fernandez Feo municipality, Tachira; Ruben Ortega Blanco (50 years old) located in the sector El Piñalito, municipality Fernandez Feo, and resident of La Ceiba, state of Apure and Jose Angel Ferrer (24 years old). The three, and an identified fourth male, are all believed to have been kidnapped in Apure, killed, and later abandoned in Táchira.
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Fundaredes mentions by name rogue Colombian guerrilla gangs ELN, renegades of FARC, and the Boliches as operating in those two areas, allegedly in cahoots with the Maduro regime.
“We are talking about these repeating events that have been occurring over the last eight days. People are disappearing or being kidnapped in Apure state and are found dead in the south of Tachira state, specifically in the municipality of Fernandez Feo. People who appear with bullet impacts and gunshots,” said the general manager of the NGO Oswaldo Caceres.
The lawyer also indicates that this is knowing from testimonies of family members, documented by the NGO dedicated to the defense of human rights. He maintains that it is “a repeating pattern” that is being seen and does not disregard the fact that it is a pattern of action that dovetails those of “irregular gangs operating along the border.”
“Those armed groups are living in the states of Apure and Táchira, among them the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Bolivarian Liberation Forces (FBL- Boliches) who took control of the territory and the population,” added Caceres.
He also highlighted that the body of Jose Abenavide Jimenez Rojas (44 years old), who resided in San Camilo, Apure State, was found in the Irco subdivision in the Fernandez Feo municipality, Tachira, as well as an unidentified man.
Also, he added: “The bodies of citizens Ruben Ortega Blanco (50 years old) located in the sector El Piñalito, municipality Fernandez Feo; Jose Angel Ferrer (24 years old) found in the sector Caño Tigre, Fernandez Feo, resident of the state of Apure who was disappeared by the guerrillas according to the accounts of his relatives, have been found.”
Fundaredes went to the Public Ministry to denounce the situation and requested an investigation. He questions why this is happening even with COVID-19 restrictions still in place, even when police and military controlled the highways of Tachira.
