Published at: 19/08/2026 09:00 PM

“Operation Vicente Contreras Duque”

(Elite, September 30, 1977)

• On September 30, 1977, all the statements of those who planned and participated in the escape of 13 political prisoners held in the prison of La Pica, located in the state of Monagas, were published in the magazine Élite.
• Assuming all the risks posed by the political persecution of the government in those days, journalist Irma Barreto Miliani moved from Caracas to a hidden camp in the lower part of the Guanipa del Edo Plateau. Monagas, to get the scoop told by its protagonists.
• The journalist obtained the statements of its authors, the commanders: Andrés Cova Mata, Pedro Veliz Acuña and Roberto Rincón, all from the National Political Committee of the Red Flag.
• The operation took place on Sunday, August 14, 1977 and was named in honor of Vicente Contreras Duque, who was tortured and shot together with Juan Zabala Gómez, by Army hunters, on February 20 of that year in the hamlet of Las Pavas, in the state of Bolívar.
• In this operation, the following political prisoners were rescued:
  • Andrés Cova Mata
  • Faustino Lugo
  • Roberto Rincón
  • Antonio Arias
  • José Noguera Figueroa
  • Luis Calma
  • Francisco Jiménez “El Viejo Ruperto”
  • Mateo Guillén Rebanales
  • Luis Agustín Cova
  • Eude Rodriguez
  • Ali del Carmen Torres
• Overcoming all adversities, setbacks, changes of plans, torrential downpours and strict military surveillance, the operation proved to be a feat of guerrilla intelligence and a very important step forward for the Red Flag party, in the consolidation of the Américo Silva Front (FAS) as an armed tool in the framework of the insurgent struggle for the seizure of power, combined with the various forms of organization of the urban revolutionary movement.
• A few days after the interview was conducted and published, on October 9, 1977, the house of journalist Irma Barreto Miliani was raided by a commission from the General Sectorial Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention (DISIP), and she was arrested and imprisoned in the Tocuyito Penitentiary, in Edo. Carabobo.
• Once she achieved her freedom, she was dismissed from the Capriles chain where she worked and then all the media, lackeys of the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez, closed their doors condemning her to unemployment and imposing a siege of hunger and exclusion from work for years.

Mazo News Team