Puente Llaguno Events

The Puente Llaguno events, also known as the El Silencio Massacre, is a term coined by some of the Venezuelan media referring to the events that occurred in the center of Caracas during a massive march towards the Miraflores Palace, a precedent for the coup d'état of April 11, 2002 in Venezuela. As a result, nineteen Venezuelan citizens lost their lives, including opponents and supporters of Hugo Chávez.

The Llaguno Bridge is the name of an elevated vehicular crossing on Avenida Urdaneta, located about two hundred meters from the Miraflores Palace, which runs perpendicularly over Avenida Baralt, in the center of Caracas. The bridge is named after Don Felipe de Llaguno y Larrea, a distinguished resident of Caracas in the 18th century.

The bridge is the point of three corners of neighboring parishes of the city of Caracas: La Pastora to the northwest, Altagracia to the northeast, Cathedral to the south. The bridge passes over Avenida Baralt four blocks from the beginning of Avenida Urdaneta starting from Avenida Sucre. Due to the events of 2002, the Llaguno Bridge was declared Cultural Heritage of Venezuela on April 9, 2012.

Context

On the morning of April 11, 2002, a massive demonstration of citizens opposed to President Chávez gathered in front of the PDVSA headquarters (Urbanización Chuao, Caracas). Throughout the morning, several leaders went up to a large stage set up on the site and they spoke to the crowd, the last one was the then general secretary of the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV) Carlos Ortega Carvajal. In the middle of his intervention, he announced: "Let's not rule out that this mass, that this human river goes to Miraflores." Given this call, the crowd began to move towards the site. According to some versions, Ortega's announcement was the result of pressure from the crowd, which non-stop shouted the slogan: To Miraflores! To Miraflores!

It was around 11:30 a.m. m. when the advance towards the presidential headquarters began. At that same time, another group of protesters was near the same palace supporting President Hugo Chávez. The Metropolitan Police (known in Venezuela by its acronym "PM") tried without success to stop the march at the height of Bolívar Avenue, for fear of the violence that could be generated if the opposition groups met with the government supporters.. The march continued to advance until it reached the center of Caracas, very close to the presidential palace. When the two demonstrations met in that area, violent clashes began that were only partially controlled by the National Guard and the PM. These clashes lasted for several hours and covered different places surrounding the presidential headquarters of Miraflores.

Events

Approximately 2 p.m. m. a group of opposition protesters begins to ascend Baralt Avenue. The pro-government groups stationed in Puente Llaguno, observing the movement of the other side, go down to the avenue to confront them.

This area - unlike the other areas near the Miraflores Palace - there was no National Guard cordon preventing passage, which allowed the two groups in conflict to confront each other directly, causing a high number of wounded and wounded. deaths that did not occur in other areas.

The first injury on Baralt Avenue occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. m. is an undercover Disip named Tony Velázquez. At the time of receiving the shot, Velázquez was between the corners of Pedrera and Muñoz. The pro-government groups are currently occupying the northern part of Baralt Avenue.

Regarding this first injured person, who was shot in the head, which he survived, there were statements by Disip agent Melvin Eduardo Collazo before the investigative commission of the National Assembly. In these statements, agent Collazo states:

"We learned that an official of our office was injured on the floor, which is why we moved in the company of the whale-type unit of the Metropolitan Police that would counter the shootings coming from Puente Llaguno (...)"

This testimony corroborates the version that at that time, around 2:30 p.m. m. shots were being received coming from the area where the Llaguno bridge is located, that is, from the north of Baralt Avenue. Also around 2:30, approximate time, PM Commissioner Lázaro Forero requested help via radio, given the large number of shots they received from the Chavista group. In this recording you can hear Lázaro Forero transmitting to control. Control reports that "if we move the personnel who are in Chuao (...) and bring them to the center via Cota Mil and go down to San Bernardino..." A few minutes later, 54-1 (another of the PM commissions) reports: "For the Baralt are coming down with about 60 Catas 21 from La Pastora, they have Cata 31 (60 people with firearms).” This transmission is part of the evidence presented by the prosecution to accuse the heads of the Metropolitan Police as the intellectual authors of the deaths on Baralt Avenue.

The above reveals mainly two facts: 1) The police were not shooting at that time towards the north of Baralt Avenue, 2) The pro-government groups were shooting from the north of Baralt Avenue, but not from Puente Llaguno.

At 2:39 (approximately) Jesús Arellano dies from a shot to the heart. Arellano is on the corner of Pedrera on the east side of Baralt Avenue (near an exit from the Capitol Metro) and at that time Chavista groups are occupying the west part of Baralt Avenue a little above Pedrera. A video captures a man shooting from behind a tree in the direction of the area where Arellano is just at the moment he is shot. This video has a jump of a tenth of a second at the moment Arellano falls, which makes some people suspicious that they think it is a montage. However, it can be seen that there are Chavismo protesters on the other side of the avenue seconds before Arellano is shot from that area.

At 3:45 p.m. m. President Chávez's television network begins.

At 3:50 p.m. m. (approximate time) Jorge Tortoza is mortally wounded, a few seconds later, Malvina Pesate is shot in the face (this time can be seen on Malvina Pesate's watch in the video “Puente Llaguno, keys to a Massacre& #34;. Both Tortoza and Pesate are on the corner of Pedrera. In the same video you can see how in the background there are still a large number of Chavistas occupying the opposite bank of Baralt Avenue, diagonal to the scene of the events.

Between 3:50 and 4:00 p.m. m. are murdered: Alexis Bordones, Antonio Gamallo, Jesús Mohamed Espinoza Capote and Orlando Rojas, all marching on the side of the opposition.

At 4:07 p.m. m., the photographic record of journalist Enrique Hernández shows us a person injured in the foot. According to this journalist, it was a gunshot wound from a PM shot. This indicates that only after 4 p.m. m. the first injured appears on the official side on Baralt Avenue.

Another injured person on the pro-government side appears around 4:30 p.m. m.; The time is verified through the video of Venevisión journalist Luis Fernández; In this one you can see how the first injured person is transferred to the tents that were near Miraflores and the presidential station can be heard in the background, a station that began at 3:45 p. m., as Chávez himself declared at the time of starting it, this chain would last one hour and forty-three minutes.

The gunmen located on the Llaguno bridge, who are captured by Luis Fernández's team when Chávez's chain has already started, begin to shoot, as they would later declare in reaction to the PM's shots. According to some testimonies from the same gunmen, they were also shot at from the Edén Hotel.

After 4:00 p.m. m. the situation turns into a confrontation between the pro-government gunmen and the PM.

Snipers

During the events of that day, several witnesses reported seeing people shooting from two specific locations: The Ausonia Hotel and the Eden Hotel.

In a report presented on May 15, 2002 before the National Assembly, the head of the Military House (the guard of the president of Venezuela) at that time, Colonel Almidien Ramón Moreno Acosta, stated that ten (10) suspects were arrested on April 11, 2002 under the accusation of being alleged snipers. Three (3) of them were captured by a group of unidentified citizens and handed over to Casa Militar; no reports were presented on whether any firearms were seized from them. The remaining seven individuals were captured directly by officials of the Honor Guard (Military House). These seven individuals were fully identified since they had registered with their real names at the Ausonia Hotel. One of them carried a 38 caliber revolver with five unfired cartridges. On April 12 they were handed over to the Prosecutor's Office and processed in court. They were released because there was not enough evidence to charge them. The revolver had not been fired nor were traces of a shot found anywhere on the body or clothing of the detainees.

Research

Eight officials of the Metropolitan Police of Caracas, the commissioners of the Metropolitan Police Henry Vivas and Lázaro Forero and the then Secretary of Security of the Metropolitan Mayor's Office of Caracas, Iván Simonovis, were arrested for the homicides that occurred in and around Puente Llaguno..

Many criminalistic measures were applied late in relation to Puente Llaguno, so most of the evidence presented in the investigations of the events came from witnesses and audiovisual material captured by journalists and amateurs. For participating in the events that occurred on April 11, 2002 in which several people died and hundreds more were injured, the Public Ministry, at the request of the Association of Victims of April 11, accused various officials of the Metropolitan Police of Caracas, for the crimes of completed qualified homicide, frustrated qualified homicide, very serious injuries, serious injuries, less serious injuries, minor injuries, improper use of firearms and war weapons.

Beginning a trial that lasted several years, and in which 230 hearings were held, 265 expert reports, 5,700 photos and 20 videos were presented, and 198 witnesses and 48 experts testified, On April 3, 2009 Judge 4. º of Trial of the state of Aragua, Maryorie Calderón, together with three escabinos, handed down the sentence:

• Condemning to 30 years in prison the Commissioners Henry Vivas, Lazaro Forero, the former secretary of citizen security Ivan Simonovis, and the officials Erasmo Bolivar, Julio Ramón Rodríguez and Luis Enrique Molina.
• 17 years and 10 months ' imprisonment for police officer Cabo Primero Arube Salazar.
• A 16-year prison term for police officer Marcos Hurtado.
• Released police officer Rafael Neazoa López who was acquitted of all charges.
• Condemning 3 years to Ramón Zapata who was released since he was already 5 years in detention, so he had already served his sentence.

The three commissioners Iván Simonovis, Lázaro Forero and Henry Vivas and eight agents from the defunct Metropolitan Police (PM) were specifically prosecuted for being responsible for the deaths of Erasmo Sánchez and Rudy Urbano Duque.

In September 2012, a statement signed and notarized in Costa Rica by the former judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice, Eladio Aponte Aponte, was released, in which he refers to a Cassation appeal filed by those convicted before the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ. In it, Aponte points out that "the order that President Chávez expressly gave me was “Get out of this immediately without further delay” “Condemn them once and for all” so I did, and once we had the project we signed it on May 2010 and the ruling was published on May 21, sentence 173 with the approval of me, Deyanira Nieves, Miriam Morando and Héctor Coronado Flores, and I let each of them know that this was Chávez's order so They rushed to sign. Except for Blanca Rosa Mármol's vote. This statement remains controversial, even though another former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, Luis Velázquez Alvaray, has publicly corroborated other statements made by Aponte.

Those responsible for the deaths of the remaining 17 victims have not been determined.

Victims

There were a total of 19 people who were murdered in the surroundings of the Miraflores Palace on April 11, 2002.

• 1. Juan David Querales, 25 years.
• 2. Victor Emilio Reinoso, 28 years.
• 3. Alexis Bordones, 53 years.
• 4. Orlando Rojas, 49 years.
• 5. Jorge Tortoza, 48 years.
• 6. Angel Luis Figueroa, 29 years.
• 7. Jesus Orlando Arellano, 34 years old.
• 8. José Antonio Gamallo, 45 years old.
• 9. Jesus Mohamed Espinoza Capote, 18 years old.
• 10. He was Enrique Sánchez, 60 years old.
• 11. Pedro Linares, 42 years old.
• 12. César Matías Ochoa, 38 years old.
• 13. Nelson Eliézer Zambrano, 23 years old.
• 14. Rudy Urbano Duque, 38 years.
• 15. Josefina Rengifo, 29.
• 16. Luis Alfonso Monsalve, 55 years old.
• 17. Luis Alberto Caro, 57 years.
• 18. José Alexis González Revette, 47 years old.
• 19. Jhonnie Obdulio Palencia, 29 years.

In addition, 127 people were injured.