Children leaving schools on the Venezuelan border are recruited by guerrilla groups

The 75% of children and adolescents who drop out of Venezuela's border states They are recruited by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the People's Liberation Army (EPL), the Bolivarian Liberation Forces (FBL) and dissident groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for to be part of their forces. illegal activities.

The information was revealed in the 2018 Annual Report of the NGO FundaRedes, that this Wednesday will be presented by its director, the professor Javier Tarazona Sánchez.

The report stresses that now at the border "Extortion, smuggling, violent deaths and the recruitment of children and adolescents by armed groups are more frequent".

The Venezuelan authorities and agencies in charge of the security of the inhabitants of the border states protect irregular groups, a situation that has been recorded by Fundaredes activists and reported by various non-governmental organizations.

Tarazona also pointed out that since 2009 Fundaredes has obtained evidence and testimonies about the entry of the ELN guerrillas into educational institutions "disseminate educational and informational material of this irregular armed group" in Zulia, Táchira, Apure, Barinas, Bolívar and Amazonas states.

FundaRedes presented images that confirm whatThe guerrillas of the ELN appear armed in the educational centers, Forcing teachers and students to participate in games and games in which they play guerrilla roles.

ELN also gave students their propaganda magazine, Torch Elena, to familiarize them with the armed group.

The guerrillas

The report FundaReedes also revealed that the Colombian guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN) has five stations operating in six states and 36 municipalities in Venezuela without the authorities intervening to prevent it.

On July 4, 2006, the first guerrilla station in Venezuela, Antorcha Estéreo 96.7 FM, was led by irregulars from the Urban War Front "Camilo Torres Restrepo", who directed their signals to the Venezuelan cities of San Antonio, Ureña, Delicias. , Rubio, Capacho Nuevo and Capacho Viejo and with reception in the capital of Táchira, San Cristóbal. It also reaches the municipalities of Guásimos, Cárdenas, Torbes, Fernández Feo and its surroundings.

Although it is known that its transmission module is located in the Páramo El Tamá National Park, FundaRedes denounces that no authority acts in this situation.

On October 21, 2015, another station, La Voz de la Libertad 96.5 FM, operated by the ELN Eastern Front, is present in the municipalities of Fernández Feo and Libertador, of Táchira as well as in the municipality of Páez de Apure.

Then, January 8, 2017, appeared the radio station Antorcha Elena 90.1 FM, Frente Urbano "Carlos Germán Velasco Villamizar", with an area of ​​influence in the municipalities of Bolívar, Rafael Urdaneta, Pedro Maria Ureña, Junín Capacho Viejo, Nuevo Capacho, Torbes, Fernández Feo, San Cristóbal and throughout the metropolitan region of Táchira State .

At the end of 2016, the National Telecommunications Commission, a public body charged with regulating the operation of radio and television, withdrew the metropolitan stereo broadcaster; A few days later, ELN occupied the dial published by Conatel.

In February 2018, the ELN guerrilla extended its influence in communication with Radio Frontera Rebelde 105.5 FM, with coverage extending to the border strip of states Apure, Bolívar, Amazonas and part of the Barinas states.

One month later, on March 19, 2018, the launch of Radio Insurrección Caribeña 94.7 FM from the northern Zulia war front, which operates in the southern area of ​​Lake Maracaibo and Sierra de Perijá.