Criminal Investigations Into Post-Electoral Violence in Venezuela Moving Forward

The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, said that his office has carried out 1,104 investigations and 1,233 actions regarding cases related to violent acts perpetrated by the so-called far-right comanditos. Following Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, a series of destabilizing and destructive acts, including murders, were carried out across the country in an attempt by the opposition to reverse the results or create a state of emergency that might encourage foreign intervention.

Regarding evidence of the commission of crimes during the aforementioned incidents, Saab said this Monday, November 2, that a expert analyses has been carried out on approximately 300 videos, some of which show the criminal actions of far-right activists. These crimes include the murder of First Sergeant José Antonio Torres Blanca of Venezuela’s National Guard, who was shot in the neck during post-electoral violence in the city of Maracay, Aragua state, the prosecutor recalled.

“Those who killed, injured, and burned innocent citizens are not political prisoners, for example in the case of the murder of First Sergeant José Antonio Torres,” noted AG Saab, “nor are any of the NGOs that are hunting people in detention centers to make them sign, almost by force, a document so that they can then make it seem like they are doing work when they are not, because none of the releases [of suspects from detention centers] that have been granted have anything to do with these organizations.”

AG Saab also recalled, among other cases, the murder of Mayauri Silva, a spokesperson for a UBCH (Hugo Chávez Battle Unit) in Turmero, Aragua state. Saab recalled that Silva “was murdered; she was pursued, and on the night of August 3, she was intercepted by a criminal who shot her three times and then fled on a motorcycle with the help of two other men. This case is not mentioned in the lists of any NGO or of this self-appointed [UN] mercenary mission to determine the facts.”

He explained that the victim was ordered to be killed by a subject identified as “Fernando Venancio Martínez, a mercenary.”

AG Saab recalled the number of people killed and injured and the statistics related to property damaged during the violence carried by the so-called comanditos on July 29 and 30 of this year. “There were 28 people killed, 195 people injured, and 486 cases of property damaged,” said Saab.

He pointed out that since November 20, when the Committee for Justice for Victims of July 2024 was created, the courts have recorded at least “20,000 direct and indirect victims, including those injured and family members of people who lost their lives,” he said.

Venezuela Establishes Committee for Justice for the Victims of the July 2024 Post-electoral Violence

In light of this, he reaffirmed that the Attorney General’s Office will continue working to ensure that justice and peace prevail in Venezuela despite the ongoing disinformation campaigns.

AG Saab reiterated his repudiation of the smear campaign that the far-right, both nationally and internationally, have launched against Venezuela, whereby the opposition and its powerful media and social media instruments attempt to lead people to believe that those who committed violent crimes are in fact political prisoners. Saab assured that justice will be carried out, and that those who attempted to destabilize the country on July 29 and 30 will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Saab also urged Venezuelans to unite to explain to the world the truth about what is happening in Venezuela with regard to these alleged political prisoners. The case of Venezuela “has no precedents,” he stated, since the extreme right has executed a series of plans such as “attempted coups d’état, assassination, [and] the use of mercenaries, networks, transnational media, etc.,” to try and achieve its objective.

(Últimas Noticias) by Jose David Delgado

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SL