Venezuela: Allegations of secret army order to train snipers for use against protesters

Event

Multiple media sources reported on May 18 that a Venezuelan general was secretly recorded issuing orders to begin making preparations to train and use snipers against anti-government protesters. In the recording of a meeting held three weeks prior to the reports, Army Division General José Rafael Torrealba Pérez can be heard telling his peers from the army, air force, and national guard to begin selecting soldiers who would be suitable to serve as snipers, saying that “there will come a time when we will have to employ them” when the president moves forward with Plan Zamora. After one objection, Torrealba acknowledges the use of snipers would be unconstitutional but that it would be effective in stopping the anti-government protests because when “dead bodies begin to appear, then everyone will begin to stay home.” These statements contradict the defense minister’s recent claims that the military does not and will not use lethal firearms against protesters. Given the already high sociopolitical tensions, this recent revelation could add further fuel to the anti-government sentiment prevailing in the country and lead to additional violent unrest.

Context

The Venezuelan government announced on Wednesday, May 17, it was deploying 2600 military personnel to western Táchira state after escalating violence and looting led to three deaths in the previous week. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez announced the deployment as part of the early phases of Plan Zamora, an operation aimed at pacifying violence in the event of internal social or political threats to the institutional order. The deployment is significant as until now the military, an indispensable ally of the Maduro administration, had largely been spared policing duties (that could alter their sympathies) amid the ongoing violent unrest. The government has mostly relied on police and national guard forces, along with pro-government gangs.

For nearly two months, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the country have been denouncing a wide range of grievances as well as demanding elections be held in mass protests and marches, some of which have resulted in violent clashes with police and military forces. Venezuela has been devastated by a long series of progressively worsening crises affecting the restive country in recent months and years, including a breakdown of the democratic system, major shortages of gasoline, medications, food, and other basic necessities, an alarming spike in rates of violent crime, massive inflation and economic recession, and a resurgence of disease.

Advice

Individuals in Venezuela are advised to limit movements, to strictly avoid all protests and roadblocks due to the likelihood of violence, and to closely monitor the situation.