Gang threats against the Venezuelan regime over July’s election results handed the government an opportunity to discredit the opposition and increase military activity, a move that could backfire by boosting anti-government sentiment and insecurity.
Security officials deployed 6,000 Venezuelan soldiers and police officers in the states of Guárico and Miranda on August 6 as part of Operation Zaraza 2024, according to press reports citing official sources.
The deployment came a week after the gang Tren del Llano surrounded and confiscated weapons from military officials who were guarding a school being used as a voting center in San Francisco de Macaira, Guárico. The same night, the gang uploaded a video threatening the government in response to widespread repression of protests after electoral authorities named Nicolás Maduro the winner of the presidential election.
Venezuela’s foreign minister claimed, without proof, that Maduro’s political opposition had contracted Tren del Llano and Tren de Aragua, another Venezuelan criminal organization, to assist in a coup.
Officials have since arrested more than a dozen alleged Tren del Llano members, and killed multiple alleged members of its associated cells or splinter groups.
At least one of those arrested was also detained on suspicion of having provided medical care to gang members.
Security forces carried out the extrajudicial killings of at least two civilians in San Francisco de Macaira during the operation, a lawyer from Venezuelan non-governmental organization Defiende Venezuela told InSight Crime.
“They weren’t members of the gang; they were farmers,” said the lawyer, who asked to remain unnamed for security reasons. “What’s more, they were very young, around 20 to 25 years old.”
He added that the organization also believes the disappearance of a resident may also be linked to the operation.
Military officials allegedly aerially bombarded communities during a raid in Acevedo, Miranda, on August 13, and soldiers indiscriminately threw grenades and fired their rifles, reportedly leaving seven wounded and other residents displaced, according to Human Rights NGO Provea, which branded the attack a “war crime.”
InSight Crime Analysis
Maduro has used Tren del Llano’s video as an opportunity to criminalize his political opponents. The large-scale military deployment also allows him to paint himself as security-focused while his legitimacy is at an all-time low.
But the abuses of civilians by soldiers and police officers may bolster criminal groups in the long term. Operation Zaraza is echoing the abuses security forces inflicted upon civilians during Operation Trueno (Operation Thunder), a previous military deployment in Guárico that targeted Tren del Llano beginning in April 2022.
Many of those arrested during Operation Trueno were innocent, and some alleged “gang members” were victims who had been forced to collaborate. The arrest of a woman accused of providing health care for the gang shows Operation Zaraza is subjecting civilians to the same revictimization they suffered during Operation Trueno.
In some ways, Operation Zaraza has already outdone its predecessor in terms of civilian abuse.
“One of the most important differences between Operation Trueno and Operation Zaraza is that in Operation Trueno there were no extrajudicial executions, at least not identified by [our] organization,” Defiende Venezuela’s lawyer said. “I think the main difference is the degree of lethality that this operation could have.”
Potential links between Tren del Llano and Venezuela’s political opposition are unlikely, particularly given that graffiti bearing Tren del Llano’s name threatening opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in Guárico ahead of her visit in June.
Yet the state’s post-electoral repression gave the gang the opportunity to present itself as being on the side of “the people.” That may help Tren de Llano in its quest to regain territory, even if it earns most of its profits through extorting residents.
“That action that they carried out, beyond wanting to protect the people, is an action that I believe is very, very aligned with the populism that these gangs have. It presents them as being like Robin Hood,” said Defiende Venezuela’s lawyer.
He added that, even before the operation, security forces regularly extorted poor residents, while Tren del Llano typically extorts relatively richer agricultural producers, which could mean that many already view the state as the greater of two evils, a stance further human rights abuses committed during Operation Zaraza will strengthen.
“Beyond the issue of citizen security, I believe that the main damage [caused by Operation Zaraza] is damage to the social fabric, which will continue to deepen.”
Featured Image: Venezuela’s Defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez holds a press conference in Caracas on July 30, 2024, announcing that President Nicolás Maduro had the “absolute loyalty and unconditional support” of the armed forces amid reelection protests. Credit: AFP
