US embassy cable - 04CARACAS3745

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 003745 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, KJUS, VE 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON ANDERSON INVESTIGATION 
 
REF: A) CARACAS 03704 B) CARACAS 03677 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (U)  Police investigating the assassination of Venezuelan 
prosecutor Danilo Anderson have killed two suspects, while a 
judge has ordered three former police officers (two brothers 
and their cousin), detained on charges of murder.  Lawyers 
and family members allege that the three were tortured while 
being illegally held by police, and that police used 
excessive force against the two dead suspects.  Police have 
carried out various raids and have allegedly found weapons 
stockpiles and incriminating evidence, though defense lawyers 
claim the searches were carried out illegally.  The search of 
Caracas' Hebrew Cultural Center, with negative results, drew 
rebuke and caused consternation among the Jewish community 
(reftel A). Authorities have offered no explanation on the 
motive for the attack, though USG involvement has been 
insinuated by GOV officials.  End Summary. 
 
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The Arrested and the Dead 
------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon claimed 
December 2 to have discovered the operational part of the 
plot that assassinated prosecutor Danilo Anderson November 
18.  Chacon also announced changes in the investigative team. 
 He denied newspaper reports that the removal of the Homicide 
Division of the Investigative and Criminal Police Corps 
(CICPC) from the case had to do with allegations of 
disappearances, torture, illegal searches, as Caracas' two 
leading newspapers had claimed that day.  He said that the 
investigation was now focusing on finding the intellectual 
authors of the attack, and that other investigative abilities 
were required than in the investigation of the material 
authors. 
 
3.  (U)  The investigation thus far has led to the arrest of 
Otoniel Guevara, one time number three in the Directorate for 
Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP), his brother 
Rolando Guevara, former hief of the Homicide Division of the 
CICPC, on Nvember 26, and their cousin, Juan Bautista 
Guevaa, former inspector with the CICPC, on November 28 
CICPC officers also killed Antonio Lopez in a shoot out in 
the center of Caracas November 23. Lopz was a lawyer who 
frequented the firing range oned by Otoniel Guevara.  Marco 
Antonio Rodriguez the lawyer for Lopez' family, told 
reporters Noember 27 that Lopez' body had a bullet wound 
under the chin with powder burns, indicating, accordingto 
Rodriguez, that Lopez was executed.  (Comment  There is no 
other corroboration of this report but it is plausible.) 
CICPC officers also kille Carlos Sanchez_ in a shootout in a 
hotel room in arquisimeto November 25. Sanchez_ was also a 
formr CICPC inspector, and was a partner with Rolando 
Guevara in a security company. 
 
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Searches Questioned 
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4.  (U)  CICPC officers searched the home of Antoni Lopez's 
parents, where he lived, November 23.  hey allege to have 
found automatic weapons, C-4 explosive, an anti-tank mine and 
a rocket launcher.  Lopez' parents, ex-COPEI senator Haydee 
Castillo and Antonio Lopez Acosta, allege that the police did 
not allow them to observe the search, that the prosecutor 
arrived late, and that he did not have a warrant.  They say 
the police planted the evidence in their house.  CICPC 
officers detained the elderly couple after the search and 
took them handcuffed to detention facilities, where they were 
held for two days.  Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and 
Chacon have criticized the treatment the pair received. 
Police also searched Caracas' Hebrew Culture center November 
29 (ref A). 
 
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Allegations of Disappearances and Torture 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (U)  There are several unresolved questions about the 
 
detention of the three suspects arrested for murder. Juan 
Bautista Guevara's wife reported him missing, and alleged he 
had been detained by CICPC officers, on November 20.  On 
November 23, Chacon said that no police force had detained 
him.  On that same day Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez told 
reporters that Guevara had not been detained, but was being 
questioned by police. DISIP officers then allegedly captured 
Juan Guevara in Portuguesa on November 28.  Defense lawyer 
Pedro Miguel Castillo told reporters November 30 that Juan 
Guevara testified before Control Judges Maikel Moreno that he 
was moved from place to place and tortured while in the 
custody of unknown individuals.  Guevara, the lawyer said, 
described being given psychotropic drugs, having a hood 
placed over his head, and being told his wife was being raped 
in the next room, and his child tortured.  Judge Moreno 
ordered an investigation of Guevara's charges, and ordered 
him detained for 45 days pending formal accusation by the 
prosecutor. 
 
6.  (U)  Otoniel and Ronaldo Guevara were seized by unknown 
persons on November 23, and then "found" by National Guard 
officers outside of Valencia on November 26.  They were bound 
and gagged, and the marks on their wrists indicated they had 
been tied for a long time, according to Chacon.  Castillo 
told reporters that Otoniel testified before Moreno that his 
captors tortured him with electric shock and also applied 
mentholated liquid to his genitals, among other abuses. 
 
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Shadowy Backgrounds 
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7.  (U)  Speaking to reporters, Deputy Cilia Flores 
(Movimiento Quinto Republica) November 29 alleged that the 
Guevaras had all been involved in hiding Former Peruvian 
National Security Advisor Vladimir Montesinos in Venezuela in 
2001, and that she and other Deputies had completed an 
investigation into their involvement, and given it to the 
Attorney General's office. She called on the A/G's office to 
proceed against the Guevaras not only for the Anderson case, 
but for Montesinos as well. The fact that Antonio Lopez 
reportedly took counter terrorism and explosives courses in 
the U.S., and that the law firm he worked for has an American 
partner led Chacon to claim on November 26 that there might 
be CIA involvement in Anderson's murder. Flores also alleged 
that Jose Guevara, another cousin, boasted of CIA connections 
during the Montesinos case. Speaking on November 19, 
Communications Minister Andres Izarra alleged that the USG 
was at least guilty by omission, for not shutting down 
anti-Castro training camps in Florida, where anti-Chavez 
militant are allegedly training.  He also complained that 
satirist Orlando Urdaneta had not been arrested or deported, 
after suggesting on Miami television October 23 that someone 
could solve the problem of dictators with a telescopic rifle. 
 
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Comment 
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8.  (C)  Despite the deaths of two suspects, three 
detentions, and various high profile searches, there has been 
no explanation by the GOV of the motive for the attack on 
Anderson.  The serious and repeated abuses which appear to 
have taken place during the various detentions of the 
Guevaras show all the signs of police out of control, while 
prosecutors judges and Chacon try to catch up, if only to 
cover-up their actions.  That two suspects who may have had 
valuable information could both have been killed by police, 
while three others were apparently held under unexplained 
circumstances prior to being officially detained, not to 
mention the speed with which all this is occurring, casts 
doubt on the investigation.  Additionally, the lack of 
independence and professionalism among Venezuelan police, 
prosecutors and judges (see ref B) seems to be coming home to 
roost in the Anderson investigation. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2004CARACA03745 - CONFIDENTIAL