President Maduro Instructs Security Forces to Fight and End Criminal Gangs in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has instructed the security forces to combat and end the power of armed criminal gangs all over the country.

“Criminal gangs, armed gangs that attack the people, rob the people, commit crimes must be fought fiercely until this scourge is eliminated,” President Maduro instructed the officials of the Criminal and Penal Scientific Investigation Corps (CICPC) during an event on Thursday, February 23.

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He also asked for the formation of a specialized body to collect and update statistics of the types of crimes committed in the country, and to create an exhaustive database of the existing criminal gangs or those that are in incipient stages.

A gang was recently dismantled by the police in the Anzoátegui state, while an attack was reported in Las Tejerías, Aragua state by the criminal group of Carlos Gómez Rodríguez or “El Conejo” during the Caribbean Series, the international baseball tournament.

In this context, President Maduro stated that there is coordination between these criminal gangs and those of Colombia.

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Venezuelan authorities offered a $1 million reward in early February for information on the whereabouts of “El Conejo,” and another reward for information about the whereabouts of six other members of the gang.

On various occasions, the Venezuelan government has issued the orange alert on the Colombia-Venezuela border and has ordered military deployments in the area to defend country from intrusion by armed paramilitary gangs. The Bolivarian National Armed Force has also announced that it will defend Venezuela in the event of an attack by criminal groups from Colombia.

The Venezuelan government asserts that these criminal organizations receive foreign funding.

(HispanTV)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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