Truce in Caracas: the shooting stopped after two days of clashes between gangs and security agents

Calm returned to the streets of Caracas this Friday afternoon, after the end of clashes between armed groups and security officials.

Despite the return of everyday life senior officials in the country have not released any report on what happened.

Only the dictator Nicolás Maduro decided to comment on what happened through a message on his Twitter account, almost 48 hours after the start of the conflict: “The enemies of the country intend to sow anxiety through the financing of criminal gangs, we will not stand idly by. We act with force, respecting the laws and the Constitution to guarantee security. May peace win!

THE RETURN OF CALM

An armored police vehicle drives past a car on a narrow street in a neighborhood of Caracas, during an operation this Friday to regain control of the premises after nearly two days of clashes with criminal gangs.

“It was like a war! We protected ourselves and waited for this to happen ”, said to AFP Jesús Rey, a 40-year-old mechanic who lives in the neighborhood.

“They were shooting everywhere,” said a young woman, who asked to keep her name safe. “We entered a brick house. We were 50 ”. “We waited all night until this morning calmed down and we were able to leave”, added.

Neighbors in areas affected by the shooting abandoned their homes and sought refuge with friends and relatives. Due to the roadblocks, many walked several kilometers to points such as the Caracas land terminal to leave the city.

More than 160 organizations denounced in a statement “the appearance of the phenomenon of internal displacement” following the clashes. Among them, the NGO Otro Enntación collects everything from mattresses to food to house children and adolescents fleeing Cota 905.

“Since we left, they have searched our bags at various police checkpoints”, a resident of Cota 905 told the AFP with reservation, he took a bus to San Juan de Los Morros, in the state of Guárico, about 130 km from Caracas. “I am leaving very worried because the rest of my family are staying.”

There are no official figures of dead or injured in the shootings which began on Wednesday in the west of the Venezuelan capital. Local media report a dozen dead, including officials, criminals and civilians affected by stray bullets.

Journalists specializing in the source of events They posted videos of areas of the occupied area, where the ground is covered with a carpet of cartridge cases, as well as buckets of ammunition.

THE PLAN VERSION

“We have made progress in dismantling the criminal structures that had settled in these territories, with clear claims to sow terror and shatter the peace of Caracas.” Interior Minister Carmen Meléndez wrote on Twitter. “We freed citizens who had been kidnapped by antisocials.”

About 800 officials are part of the operation to capture the Cota 905, a neighborhood where the gang known as “Koki” operates, for which the government is offering a reward of $ 500,000 for the information that allows it to be captured.

Minister Meléndez posted photographs of improvised trenches with sandbags and guard posts built with logs and canvas roofs at Cota 905. Authorities searched several houses in search of “Koki” and other gang lieutenants, who allegedly fled the area.

In the clashes, large caliber weapons, grenades, tracer bullets were used, as well as drones with which the gangs had a wide view of the areas they controlled.

The government links the clashes with these gangs, which have also affected other areas in western Caracas, with an alleged opposition plot to “destabilize” President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela registered 12,000 deaths in acts of violence in 2020 according to the NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia (OVV), a rate of 45.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, seven times the world average.

(With information from AFP)

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