2018 Tumeremo massacre
| 2018 Tumeremo massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Tumeremo, Bolívar, Venezuela |
| Date | 14—16 October 2018[1] |
| Target | miners |
| Deaths | 7[1] |
| Injured | 6 |
The 2018 Tumeremo massacre is at least the third civilian massacre of miners in the Venezuelan town of Tumeremo since 2016.[2] Occurring over three days from 14 October 2018, it is suspected that a Colombian guerrilla group is responsible for the murders.[1]
Attack
[edit]The miners attacked were at Los Candados mine. The opposition politician for the state, Américo de Grazia, claimed that the recovered bodies were of 4 men and 3 women. He also posted a thread of tweets showing several bodies, including those with gunshot wounds showing how they had been killed and abandoned.[3] Five survivors of the attack returned to their village to report the events,[4] there are reportedly six people injured.[2]
Suspected attackers
[edit]According to The Guardian, victims' families blame the Colombian guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and that this group is supported by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.[1] These kinds of attacks were previously described as a type of gang warfare between mining mafias, but the leftist ELN and Maduro are allegedly attempting to disrupt production and gather mining profits, according to analytical reports.[4]
Responses
[edit]Local businesses and schools were closed for the investigation, which lasted many weeks. The attack furthered opposition displeasure at the government's supposed complicity with organized crime and harboring Colombian terrorists.[2] It drew international media attention to the violence in remote parts of the country.[1] It is viewed as the worst of many massacres in the region since the 2016 massacre.[2] Shortly after the events, towards the end of October, armed violence broke out in Tumeremo, which de Grazia says began with the presence of government military forces.[5] On 31 October, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing sanctions on the illegal gold trade of Venezuela.[6] The Los Canados mine was an illegal operation.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Ramírez, María; Daniels, Joe Parkin (Oct 30, 2018). "Colombian rebels blamed for killing spree 400 miles inside Venezuela". The Guardian. Retrieved May 26, 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ a b c d "New massacre in Venezuela's Mining Arc". Oct 18, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
- ^ "Américo de Grazia Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
- ^ a b "Mining Massacre Signals ELN Expansion Into Venezuela". InSight Crime. 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
- ^ "Denuncian enfrentamiento armado en la ciudad de Tumeremo". El Universal (in Spanish). 2018-10-27. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^ "Trump orders sanctions on Venezuelan gold". Bloomberg. November 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-05.