Fundaredes denounced the hermetism in the investigation into the deaths of four indigenous people at the hands of the Venezuelan Armed Forces

The Venezuelan NGO Fundaredes denounced on Wednesday the hermetism in the investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's Office and other organizations in the Caribbean country into the event in which four Yanomami indigenous people were killed and four others were injured, according to the opposition and various NGOs, by members of the Armed Forces.

“This 20th of April marks an exact month of the regrettable events that occurred in Parima B, Amazonas state, (...) To date, no official pronouncement has been given by the competent authorities to investigate the case, as well as the secrecy with which that has been handled,” said the coordinator of the NGO in Amazonas, José Mejías.

He added that committees of the Venezuelan Parliament and the Amazonas Legislative Council have also not spoken about the case to determine what happened.

“From Fundaredes we demand that this be clarified, we formally went to the Public Ministry, to the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Amazonas state to ask that these facts be clarified and to date there has been no official response from the respective entities,” he said.

Mejias argued that this situation has generated uncertainty, speculation and suspicion because of the way the case has been handled.

“All this causes us concern, since March 20, until this date, no clarification has been given on that case,” he said.

However, on March 23, Venezuela's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, reported that his office would begin an investigation into the allegation of a “confrontation” between indigenous Yanomami and military officials in Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state, in the south of the country.

“The national prosecutor 91 in indigenous matters and prosecutor 4 for human rights have been appointed in Amazonas to investigate jointly with experts from the Criminal and Criminal Scientific Investigations Corps (Cicpc), a complaint about the confrontation between Yanomami indigenous people and military officials,” the prosecutor said on his Twitter account.

On March 21, Fundaredes denounced the death of four Yanomami Indians in Puerto Ayacucho, the result of a “confrontation” that took place last Sunday, March 20, between members of that ethnic group and military personnel of the Air Force in Parima B.

The NGO explained that among the deceased are “Donaldo and Jonatan, 22 years old, Caribbean, 30 (years old), and Martina, 45,” and said that “this violent event began when the captain of the indigenous community asked for the return of an Internet router and the military refused to surrender.”

(With information from EFE)

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