As more Venezuelan military become involved in crimes, the Armed Forces campaign to hide it grows

The Ministry of Defense and the Strategic Operational Commander, with the pool of accounts that the military institution maintains on social networks, are carrying out a strong campaign to show that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) is fulfilling its function of defending territory and sovereignty. Beyond photos, videos and speeches, the reality is grotesque in the face of the advance of military personnel increasingly participating in drug trafficking, kidnappings, robberies, robberies, not in isolation but in groups. The majority of the troops in unfortunate conditions, with miserable salaries, without regular uniform and footwear, much less transport possibilities.

Criminal acts involving troops or officers do not appear in the propaganda network of the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are also falling victim to the power struggle between Diosdado Cabello Rondón and Nicolás Maduro Moros, which is evident in the arrest of some officers, depending on which side they belong to, as is the case with deputies, mayors, chiefs of institutes, among others.

In May of last year, active army colonel Luis Augusto Piligra Jiménez, president of Dairy Los Andes since 2019 and a man close to Cabello Rondón, was arrested; he was told that he had among his assets the herd La Villa in Apure state and the milk and distributor brand of the same name, as well as yachts, airplanes, luxury vehicles and apartments. They accused him of corruption, destabilization of the economy, malicious embezzlement of his own, official concert with contractor, extraction smuggling, association and money-laundering.

Almost simultaneously with Piligra's arrest, his brother, Captain William Andrés Rivas Jiménez, was also arrested, who is not related to Dairy Los Andes and is still in detention, although five months ago he had a release ballot. The Jimenez' mother had her house raided, her belongings were thrown into the street and at the entrance of the house they placed a sign to be under the command of the DGCIM.

But not only did they arrest Colonel Piligra, but also his romantic partner Amelys Aracelys Cabrera Gómez, who had held positions in Bolipuertos and CVG Bauxilum; his brother Pedro Pablo Álvarez Jiménez, legal representative of the AA Hidalgo & Urdaneta C.A Corporation and shareholder of Administradora 2325; Karen Carolina Pacheco Diaz, vice president of the company Villa La Estancia C.A.; and Maria de los Angeles Perdomo Torres named as an accomplice. Colonel Piligra Jiménez did not accept the facts; the others pleaded guilty and were sentenced to five years.

Minutes after the Public Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of Piligra Jiménez, the manager of the company's marketing and sales department, Reinaldo González, reportedly committed suicide by jumping off the eighth floor of the Los Andes building.

The Quasimodo Gang

Major General Marco Tulio Álvarez Reyes was until February 5, 2022 the head of the Comprehensive Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) Anzoátegui state. When he was in a meeting, at the military headquarters of Guanta, a commission of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim) arrested him, within the framework of Operation Mano de Hierro.

The senior official, known as Quasimodo, since he was allegedly involved a few years ago in an attack on Colombian politician Álvaro Uribe Vélez, was a man of confidence, in police and intelligence matters, during the tenure of Stella Marina Lugo Betancourt de Montilla in the Falcón State Governorate, as Secretary of Citizen Security and State Commissioner of the Great Mission to All Life Venezuela. At that time Álvarez Reyes tried to go unnoticed, he did not wear a uniform and did not identify himself as an active military man.

Quasimodo turned out to be the highest ranking official involved in fuel trafficking, in which a mayor and a former mayor were also arrested, as well as the senior prosecutor of the state Bolivar, Manoel Gil Da Silva, captain (GNB) Antonio Barrios who was the Commander of the Third Company in Soledad, as well as civilians: Virginia Azócar Guiliarte who was in charge of the I/O, Virginia Azócar Guiliarte, Luis Corona Bolivar and Junior Nicolás Perez. The Minister of Oil, Tarek El Aissami, referred to it as “a dangerous organized crime network dedicated to the diversion, smuggling and illegal sale of fuel”.

On February 6, the appointment of GB Omar Enrique Pérez La Rosa as the new head of the Integral Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) 51 of Anzoátegui state materialized, replacing Major General (G/D) Marco Tulio Álvarez Reyes, who was arrested because he would be a key player in fuel smuggling.

They also arrested, in Operation Mano de Hierro, the mayor of the Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Carlos Rafael Vidal Bolívar, who had been re-elected three months earlier, after 14 years as the bourgomaster of the Independencia municipality of Anzoátegui state. He was a renowned cock player and showed a life of luxury. He enjoyed protection in the high government in several events, one of them in April 2016, when he was denounced for having fired 30 shots in the air in front of the residence of the leader of the Vente Venezuela party, Lander Ortega, as well as on May 2, 2019, when inhabitants of sectors of the population Soledad denounced that the mayor attacked them shots.

Vidal Bolívar ran out of luck as the internal schism in power between Maduro and Diosdado increased. The mayor was summoned for a meeting, on January 28, 2022, with leaders of his PSUV party in Caracas; a commission from the DGCIM arrived there who took him. Tarek El Aissami later appeared on television accusing him of being part of a fuel smuggling network.

Another one who was imprisoned, on February 2, 2022, was the organizer of the PSUV in Anzoátegui and former Chavista mayor, for two periods, of the Pedro María Freites municipality, Anzoátegui, Daniel Florencio Haro Méndez. Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said of him: “Haro who was engaged in the illegal diversion and marketing of gasoline to supply irregular groups engaged in illegal mining.”

Military, police and civilians

On April 8, 2022, a report by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) of the Capital District reports the dismantling of a Structured Organized Crime Group (GEDO), arresting seven military and police officers and six civilians in flagrante.

The preliminary report of the D-43 Zone Command states that they were captured, in the Los Anaucos Industrial Zone, Cristóbal Rojas municipality, Miranda state, by a commission of 15 officials, led by Capt. Deivys Sosa Benavides, Commander of the 3rd CIA of D-434.

The detainees, placed under the order of the 16th Public Prosecutor of the Public Ministry of the State Miranda, Carmen Oreste, are:

Military: SM3 (GNB) Ali Jose Burguera Quintero; S/2 (GNB) Jhonny Jose Gonzalez Diaz.

Municipal Police: Attached Supervisor Wuilmer Alfredo Rojas Piñango, from whom a Tanfoglio pistol was seized; Officer Darwin José Núñez Martínez, who had a Glock gun: both attached to the Police of the Tomás Lander municipality, Miranda state.

National Police (PNB): Officer Hannuar Hizcandy Molina Leal, director of Ecology and Recycling of the Tomás Lander municipality; Chief Officer Angel Giovanny Izquiel Faria, who had a Beretta brand pistol; and Supervisory Attaché José Félix Ramírez Rivas, with a Beretta Brand Gun; all three attached to the GNP of the Valles del Tuy axis, Miranda.

Civilians: Franklin Jesus Leal Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Pereira Gil, Humberto José Suarez Ospino, Angel Jesus Rondon Rondon and brothers Angel Jesus and Gabriel José Liota Rondon.

According to GNB, they were found when they were dismantling warehouses and stealing strategic material, resulting in the seizure of: three thousand (3000) kilograms of ferrous material, in addition to two Ford brand cargo vehicles with A90AB1H and A37CK76, an oxyfuel equipment, used for cutting, welding and reheating of metals, and for which they had five cylinders of propane gas, with which they caused the necessary combustion.

They negotiate gasoline

On April 7, 2022, the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) of the Western region, emphasizes that it was presented to the Service Station (I/O) El 56 (kilometer 56), La Cañada de Urdaneta municipality, Zulia state, to follow up on a complaint about the illicit marketing of approximately five thousand liters of gasoline per each dispatch received, in the I/O located on the KM56 and KM40.

The complaint is that these gas stations sold fuel to private companies, including Inversiones Avícola, C.A (Pollos Kiri Kiri), fuel at 0.90 cents per liter, “using PDVSA to justify fuel devices and mechanisms that violate the regulations with biometric equipment (Biopago)”.

That is, the modus operandi is to employ inhabitants of other municipalities in the state of Zulia, to exchange or sell their footprint of the integrated Biopago system, for the full 120-liter litre litre; the people who lent themselves for that would receive 10 dollars or twenty 20 liters of fuel in exchange.

This action was carried out by a GEDO made up of military and civilian personnel:

Military: PTTE. José Alejandro Lunar García and SA Richard Manuel Méndez Pineda; also Lieutenant Colonel Kherson Villarroel Gómez, S1 Carlos Eduardo Leal Pérez and S1 Anderson Felipe Bracho Araujo, because “through the empirical review and telephone analysis of seized cellular devices”, their participation in the diversion of gasoline in the KM I/O was evidenced 56.

Civilians: Deisy Karina Mesa Puche and Dianela Rosario Manzano Siritt.

The DGCIM states in its report that “it was possible to confirm that in fact, in the El KM 56 Service Station, military and administrative personnel were carrying out such illegal activity with the fuel. During the procedure, it was possible to determine the possible involvement of other military personnel in this activity.” The case was left to the Attorney 26 of the MP Against Corruption, lawyer Janín Hernández.

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