Opposition Lawmaker in Venezuela Alleges Fresh Massacre in Tumeremo Latin American Herald Tribune October 8, 2016
CARACAS – Twelve bodies have been unearthed from a landfill in eastern Venezuela’s Bolivar state, where another massacre earlier this year saw 17 miners gunned down by criminal gangs, according to Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Americo De Grazia.
According to information from inhabitants of Nuevo Callao in Tumeremo, the bodies of three women and nine men – supposedly missing since Oct. 5 – were dumped in the Tumeremo Landfill.
Reporting the case in a series of tweets, the lawmaker blamed the deaths on security officials as well as the leader of the gang, who has also been implicated in the March 4 massacre.
“Family members of those kidnapped from the Nuevo Callao mines Wednesday #Oct5 by Anderson Pereira, heir to El Topo, know nothing,” wrote De Grazia, adding that a group of people is still being held in the area.
El Topo, the leader of the gang allegedly behind the miner massacre, was killed by security forces in a shootout.
One of the survivors of the latest alleged massacre “managed to reach the Guaiparo hospital wounded” and the public ministry has been informed, he claimed.
However, there has been no official word so far confirming or denying the disappearances alleged by De Grazia, the same parliamentarian who in March announced that 30 miners had gone missing from the area.
The allegations were immediately refuted by Governor Francisco Rangel Gomez, who said the charges were politically-motivated in order to create terror in the people.
But a massive 10-day search later led to the recovery of 17 bodies from a five-meter deep grave.
The victims were all shot dead and the Attorney General’s Office assured that there were not more than 17 dead, as opposed to the 30 alleged by De Grazia.
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