US embassy cable - 04CARACAS1316

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001316 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
USAID DCHA/OTI FOR RPORTER 
DRL/PHD FOR JDAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, VE 
SUBJECT: DISAPPEARANCES, AN ONGOING CONTROVERSY 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B 
) AND (D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (U) The Democratic Coordinating Committee (CD) announced 
March 9 that eight opposition protesters had disappeared 
during the February 27-March 5 political disturbances. 
Subsequently, one of the eight reappeared, and the GOV denied 
that the remaining seven were missing, citing the lack of 
complaints by their relatives.  Opposition sources maintain 
that something happened to the seven but lack firm 
information.  Human rights organizations have been unable to 
confirm the status of the allegedly missing individuals, who 
are likely no longer missing but too frightened to come 
forward.  In addition to these seven, the disappearance of 
Dario Gonzales on March 5 was reported by his mother and 
publicized in the press March 30.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) The Democratic Coordinating Committee (CD) announced 
March 9 that eight opposition protesters had disappeared 
during the February 27-March 5 political disturbances. 
Miguel Pacheco, a Democratic Action party activist, was 
detained March 3 in Cumana, Sucre State.  Since security 
forces failed to notify his family of his detention, he was 
listed as disappeared.  Pacheco reappeared March 10 in Puerto 
Ordaz, Bolivar State with signs of torture, according to the 
human rights NGO COFAVIC. 
 
3. (U) The whereabouts of the remaining seven protesters 
(Omar Morales, Juan Perez, Juan Sanchez, Andres Bastidas, 
Jose Rodriguez, Eduardo Miranda, and Julio Gomez) is still a 
matter of dispute.  Abdel Naime, president of the Freedom 
Commandos (linked to the radical Democratic Bloc), told the 
CD that the seven, all members of the Freedom Commandos, had 
been protesting in or near the central highway of Caracas 
when they were detained by the National Guard and Military 
Police.  Naime told the CD he believed all seven had been 
killed.  D'lsa Solorzano, head of the CD Judicial Commission, 
told reporters April 10 that the CD released the names to the 
media in an attempt to find out what happened to them. 
 
4. (U) German Mundarain, Human Rights Ombudsman, issued a 
statement March 29 denying that the seven men were missing. 
He noted that the CD had called on their families to provide 
more information and to make formal complaints of the 
disappearances, but none had done so to date.  The lack of 
complaints, Mundarain implied, indicated that no one was 
missing.  Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel similarly 
discounted the allegations. 
 
5. (C) Lisette Behrens of the CD's Judicial Commission told 
poloff April 6 that she has serious doubts regarding the 
reliability of the information provided by Abdel Naime. 
Behrens says she has known Naime for several years and 
described him as "radical and crazy."  In addition, she finds 
it strange that the families of the missing men have 
completely refused to provide any information to the CD.  She 
believes the most plausible explanation is that the men were 
detained and later released, and they and their families are 
now too frightened to come forward with complaints or even 
the news that the missing persons have been found.  Her 
theory is somewhat bolstered by the opposite actions taken in 
another disappearance reported by the daily TalCual March 30. 
 Dario Gonzalez left his home March 5 and never returned, 
according to his mother.  Besides taking her son's 
disappearance to the press, Mrs. Gonzalez filed a missing 
persons report with the authorities. 
 
6. (U) COFAVIC investigated the cases of the seven men 
reported missing by Abdel Naime but was unable to discover 
their fate or confirm anything at all regarding what happened 
to them, according to a report issued March 18. 
 
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COMMENT 
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7. (C) It is probably true that the opposition released the 
names of missing people in the hope of obtaining information 
on their whereabouts, as the CD's D'lsa Solorzano says. 
 
Reports of disappeared protesters, however, have been used by 
the opposition as a political weapon against the GOV with 
little apparent regard for the reliability of the 
information.  The explanation suggested by Lisette Behrens, 
that frightened families are keeping silent to protect the 
former detainees, seems likely. 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
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      2004CARACA01316 - CONFIDENTIAL