The defeat that embittered the bicentenary of the battle of Carabobo: feigned smiles versus cry for justice from the soldiers who assassinated the guerrillas

In a desperate effort to rekindle the sentiment that has historically accompanied the celebration of the Battle of Carabobo, definitive for the freedom of Venezuela, which in 1821 revealed a courageous, fierce and victorious army against Spanish rule, the Venezuelan regime devised a series of activities characterized by colorful speeches, parades, mini-series, small works such as the Bicentennial monument, although in reality some are only repairs and recoveries of existing ones. But the, behind the curtain, under the makeup, is the ugly still unhealed wound from what happened in ApureWhen the Colombian guerrillas wounded a large number of soldiers, they kidnapped 8 of them, which they freed in exchange for the demining of part of the border territory, and sixteen (16) deaths between soldiers and officers.

Although the Minister of Defense, GJ Vladimir Padrino López, declares that “it was worth reaching this date in victory, unity and without betrayal”, In reality, the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) is reaching the immortal date in a painful situation of bitter failure due to the defeat it suffered at Apure. in front of a small group of Colombian guerrillas, more precisely a faction of dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but also confused as to its essential role, that dictated by the Constitution of the Republic: defense of territory and sovereignty.

In addition, the Venezuelan army faces accelerated deprofessionalization, poor operational readiness, thousands of desertions, demoralization of troops, afflicted by hunger, corruption and contempt for civil society. The most recent history of the Venezuelan armed forces is plagued by officers imprisoned for political reasons, some of high profile and preparation, others corrupt and immoral, opponents, Chavistas or constitutionalists.

Never before have so many soldiers been involved in criminal acts: drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, theft, cattle rustling, extortion, smuggling, fraud, etc.. Criminals have proliferated within the FANB since the main requirement for obtaining positions and promotions is loyalty and not moral and ethical merit.

The Venezuelan army was seriously wounded in its battle against FARC dissidents, under the command of Gentil Duarte, since becoming involved in an internal war that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have had since the once powerful guerrilla group divided into three major groups:

1) The one who runs alias Tymoshenko, which remained in line with the peace process, in exchange for seats in the Colombian Congress, impunity for crimes committed and economic benefits.

2) The one who emerges from the Peace Agreement to go underground, led by Jesús Santrich and Iván Márquez, called the Second Marquetalia.

3) And the one whose main leader is aliases Gentle Duarte, who refused to sign the Peace Agreement, and who has bosses like alias Ferley and alias Arturo in the region of Apure (Venezuela).

Works and hurry up

Although it is far from having the majesty and beauty of the Arc de Triomphe (1921), Maduro offers to apply for international awards the Bicentenary Monument of Carabobo, which exhibits large iron and steel beams, in what he interprets as “the mighty beams that were planted here to build the republican edifice, based on the greatest sword of liberator Simón Bolívar, looking up to the sky, asking for blessings from the Creator God”.

The Bicentenary Monument (2021) differs not only in shape but in meaning with the Arc de Triomphe, which was built in homage to the Centenary in 1921 and consists of two columns, symbolizing peace and victory, each with 28 meters high which are joined in an arch, where there are various inscriptions.

The other thing that the Maduro regime has shown in its works, in tribute to the bicentenary of the battle of Carabobo, is “a special museum for children, which was supplemented by a small zoo”.

For his part, the Minister of Defense, Padrino López, said in a speech “Bolívar, only with his will to win, his vision and his desire to be free, with those people who were in combat, managed to surprise the enemy and to drive him from those lands. The king’s army passed through here in terror 200 years ago! “.

In reality, the Venezuelan regime can only highlight the history that made Bolívar, Sucre, Miranda and other heroes of independence. The most recent can only show the unfortunate assassination of soldiers at the hands of the Colombian guerrillas:

September 19, 2020: SM3 (Ej) Gabriel Alexander Pérez Silva, S2 (Ej) Reiber David Chirino Reyes, 1TTE (Av) Augusto David Linares Delgado and Tte (Av) Miguel Ángel Mora García.

March 21, 2021: Major (Ej) Edward Ramón Corobo Segovia and 1st (Ej) Yonathan Miguel Duarte.

March 31, 2021: S / 2 (Ex) Jesús Alexander Vásquez Pérez and S1 Andriel Rafael Istúriz Sojo.

3-5 April 2021: Lieutenant Colonel (Ex) Raúl Roilander Quintero, 1st Ex Julio Manuel Inojosa Morgado, C2 (Ex) Yoendri Enrique Piñero Ortega and S1 (Ex) Breyner Alexander Granados Suarez.

April 23-24, 2021: CN Naywill José Torres Moreno, SM2 (Ex) Wilmer De Jesús Ferrobús Garabito, SM1 (Ex) Ronal José Marcano Castillo, SM2 (Ex) Andy José Miranda, SM1 (Ex) Santiago De Jesús Reyes Farfán, S1 Álvaro Rafael Mariño Ostos, S2 Michael Miguel Medina Sequera and S1 (ARB) Luis David Lira Negrón.

A total of twenty soldiers killed, to which must be added others previously assassinated in Apure, Amazonas, Zulia and Táchira..

A gratifying silence

In an effort to show what a defeat is really like a victory, the Venezuelan regime awards him the National Prize for Digital Journalism shared by the portal Corriente Revolucionaria Bolívar y Zamora (CRBZ) for his work on the armed conflict in La Victoria, Hurry. This organization was incorporated as the civilian wing of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FBL) now called the Patriotic Forces of National Liberation (FPLN), which is a Venezuelan guerrilla that has been operating for several decades and which has become known since in September 1992 it took responsibility for the attack against Antonio Ríos, then president of the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV).

And the National Executive also grants him special recognition “to documentary filmmaker Daniel Quintero, for his audiovisual work on the Colombian-Venezuelan border“; the communicator he never mentioned the eight soldiers while they were reported missing and kidnapped at the hands of the FARC.

Two facts which demonstrate the frustrated attempt of the Venezuelan regime to cover up what happened at the border. The FBL / FPLN, along with the CRBZ, has always had among its local leaders the deputy Héctor Orlando Zambrano “Lapo” and José María Romero “Chema”, mayor of the municipality of Páez; in Apure, they are recognized as members of the “Boliches”, as we say to those who belong to this Creole guerrilla.

The mayor and the parliamentarian tried, during the conflict, to present what was at the time a bloody war between the FARC and the Armed Forces. Same, On April 9, they present a micro-audiovisual presentation evoking “the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela by groups of Colombian drug traffickers, which was neutralized by the FANB through Operation Bolivarian Shield 2021, in the unit civic-military “.

CRBZ does not mention FARC dissidentsInstead, he manipulates it by saying that it is “a drug trafficking structure that is functional for the Colombian state and the North American empire to continue attacking Venezuela,” and teaches the pseudonym of Arturo as part of a residual organized armed group (GAO-r), hiding that the Colombian government denounced in January 2019 that the FARC guerrillas, whose real name is Jorge Eliécer Jiménez Martínez, were with Fabián Guevara , aka Ferley, committing crimes from La Victoria in Apure State.

CRBZ presents false information trying to show that the situation in Apure was controlled by the Venezuelan armed forces, that the inhabitants were returning home quietly to the Venezuelan border and that they had killed two irregulars first and then nine. But fourteen days after the publication of this type of information, the FARC dissidents assassinate eight soldiers, of whom nothing is known, until the guerrillas inform the parish priest of La Victoria to recover the bodies lying in the savannah and to allow them to enter the territory they dominate. on Venezuelan soil.

Today, Venezuela remembers 200 years of a glorious Army that took a decisive step towards Independence, but also of a terrible present reality for a decimated Army that urgently needs to resurface and refill its constitutional obligation.

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