Translation mine.For those who can read Spanish, there’s an interview here with Luís Machado, one of six survivors of the Yumare massacre of 1986, and a victims’ rights advocate. The document can be downloaded in PDF form and comes courtesy of Ciudad Caracas.And in English, Venezuelanalysis has a progress report on the latest investigations into the deaths of the Caracazo. Official figures from the time of the massacre put the death count at around three hundred, but this is widely believed to be a gross underestimate, with the true number being in the thousands. To get some idea of the mayhem the Caracazo unleashed, here’s a little YouTube (with music from Argentina’s own Bersuit Vergarabat):The lyrics are very appropriate. The chorus goes:This Sunday marks the 27th anniversary of the Cantaura Massacre, in which 400 members of the Armed Forces and dozens of officers of the General Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP), with the help of Caberra and Bronco airplanes from the Air Force, cruelly murdered 25 Venezuelans.The actions began at 5:30 am on October 4, 1982. They were part of a military operation already underway, whose objective was to destroy a presumed guerrilla camp of the Américo Silva Front, which at the time was in an uprising against the government of then-president Luís Herrera Campins (1979-83).The victims were all between the ages of 16 and 30, and the majority were shot in the back of the head.The dead have been identified as follows:Roberto Rincón Cabrera Emperatriz Guzmán CorderoCarmen Rojas GarcíaSor Alonso SalazarJosé NúñezMauricio TejadaEnrique Márquez VelásquezCarlos Hernández ArzolaIdemar CastilloLuisa Estévez ArranzBaudilio Herrera VeraciertoJosé Becerra NavarroEumenedis Ysoida Gutiérrez RojasDiego CarrasquelLuis GómezAntonio EchegarretaEusebio Martel DazaRubén Castro BatistaNelson Pacín CallazoCarlos Zambrano MiraBeatriz Jiménez Julio Faría MejíaIn response to the families of the victims, the Public Ministry re-opened the case in 2006. To date, 23 new investigations have been conducted, in order to gather sufficient evidence to establish criminal responsibilities in the massacre of Cantaura, in the state of Anzoátegui.[…]With these materials, the National Assembly, by way of Reinaldo García, the president of the Human Rights Subcommission, proposed the creation of a Truth Commission to advance investigations into the political killings and disappearances of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.The parliament also designated a commission of deputies to investigate and establish civil and administrative responsibilities regarding the victims, disappeared ones and torture victims of the Cantaura, Yumare and Caracazo massacres, among others.The commission plans to develop an Organic Law for the Classification and Declassification of Documents and Videos to open the archives of the military and police forces.Reinaldo García said that, along with the discussion of the Truth and Justice Law, the commission would continue exhuming the bodies of the victims, and would not forget the restitution payments for the survivors and family members.
Ah yes, the glorious “democracy” of the Fourth Republic. Who misses it? And is this what lies in store for Honduras under its own current faux-democratic dictatorship? Hell, no–Honduras is living it already.Se viene el estallido…Here comes the explosionHere comes the explosionOf my guitarAnd your governmentAs well.And if you should have any doubtI’ve come to grips with what’s so hardIf this is not a dictatorship,What is it?What is it?
It’s funny they have Nitu Perez Osuna in that last segment. I wonder what TV station she worked for then (I don’t think Globovisión existed yet).
Heh…it was Venevisión.
I guess that back then, they were not yet under orders to minimize anything that went against the neoliberal line.
I love the way they made her sound like a chipmunk on helium. (Not that she sounds any less idiotic at normal speed!)