More than three months into a wave of daily anti-socialist protests, Reuters reports that the government of Venezuela has arrested at least 123 armed forces servicemen for a variety of crimes, including traditional crime like larceny and political crimes like “treason.”
The Reuters report confirms repeated assertions from opposition leaders that many in the armed services are extremely dissatisfied with the socialist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro, which has forced soldiers to attack and kill unarmed civilians at rallies and left the nation with severe food and medicine shortages.
Reuters implies that the latter are responsible for many of the military arrests, as nearly half of the soldiers involved were arrested for theft. Reuters notes that nearly thirty of those on the list are facing charges of desertion, and nearly forty face charges of “rebellion, treason, or insubordination.”
This list presumably does not include the 75 civilians identified by the NGO Venezuela Criminal Justice Forum as having been charged with military crimes and tried in military tribunals, a universally recognized human rights violation, for having participated in peaceful anti-government protests.
The Reuters report quotes an unnamed former army general lamenting that the arrests show “low morale and discontent and, of course, economic necessity.”
“Privately, some National Guard members on the streets have acknowledged being exhausted, impoverished and hungry, though most remain impassive during protests and avoid engaging in conversation with reporters,” the report continues.
Following the publication of the Reuters report, the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional published the content of a letter to the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, signed by generals active in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard condemning their government.
The letter reads in part:
Please know that we have neither the disposition nor any will to abide by unconstitutional and human rights violating orders, recognizing the excesses of some members [of the military] who have given abusive orders and some low-ranking soldiers who have repressively taken the orders, damaging the entire institution.
It goes on to say:
Also know that we are saddened by the rampant impunity that the regime gives to colectivos and delinquents … as well as to members of the armed forces who work in tandem with corrupt people close to Assemblyman Diosdado Cabello and other recognized government authorities who are the authors of the greatest illegal businesses bleeding out our nation’s wealth.
Colectivos are roving chavista gangs whom the government uses to attack and intimidate protesters. On Wednesday, colectivos stormed the opposition-held National Assembly, holding dozens of legislators hostage for eight hours. Diosdado Cabello, the National Assembly’s socialist minority leader, has been repeatedly accused of running a continental cocaine trafficking operation, charges which he denies.
The letter from officers in the military is the latest in similar reports of resistance from within the armed forces. In May, opposition leader and Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles Radonski claimed that at least 85 soldiers had been arrested and charged with treason for refusing to follow orders to attack unarmed civilians. “They have been detained for the mere act of expressing discontent and having given a signal, a declaration, some comment disagreeing with how the National Guard and National Police are acting, the savage repression,” Capriles said at the time. The Criminal Justice Forum estimated the number of confirmed arrests within the military that month to be between 50 and 60 soldiers.
A small number of these soldiers have gone public with their rebellion. In June, a man identifying himself as First Sgt. Giomar Alexander Flores Ortiz published a video on Youtube urging his colleagues to defect and stand up against their “illegitimate president.”
“We must respect the laws and be on the side of the people, and turn our backs on the tyrant that has so harmed the country,” he says in the video. In April, another three soldiers published a video, stating they had fled to Colombia and refused to attack civilians on behalf of Maduro.
These recent defections are the greatest number since the one-man uprising of General Ángel Vivas, who refused to accept the changing of the Venezuelan Armed Forces slogan to a communist Cuban one during the tenure of late dictator Hugo Chávez. Vivas spent years protecting his home with the military weapons he refused to give the government until this year, when Maduro ordered a siege of his home and was arrested. His wife and daughters have said that there is evidence Vivas, in his 60s, has suffered severe physical abuse, causing partial loss of his vision and hearing.
The Criminal Justice Forum has counted 433 political prisoners behind bars in Venezuela, including civilians. Since daily protests against the regime began in March, 108 people have died.
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