Published at: 30/07/2025 09:00 PM

(LA EXTRA, 12-21-9-64, VEA Journal, 29-7-17 and QUE, 20-5-66)

• On July 29, 1964, members of the armed gangs of Democratic Action (AD) and members of the National Guard (GN) arrested the mayor of Altagracia in Orituco, edo. Guárico, to the guerrilla leaders Víctor Ramón Soto Rojas and Trino Barrios.
• As a result of the military siege in the area, with troops from the Armed Forces Intelligence Service (SIFA) and the General Police Directorate (DIGEPOL), both of them, fleeing intense persecution and bombing, had to leave the mountains where they operated to seek shelter and food.
• From there, Soto Rojas was taken to San Juan de los Morros, edo. Guárico and then transferred to National Guard Command No. 5 in El Paraíso, Caracas. He was then handed over to a Digepol commission by J.J. Patiño González and transferred to the cells of Los Chaguaramos.
• After suffering two days of torture, Soto Rojas was transferred to the Anti-Guerrilla Operations Theater (T.O. No. 6), located in Cúpira edo. Miranda, next to the river with the same name, to continue the “interrogations”, led by Cap. Hector Peña. Where, in addition, several simulated shootings were carried out on him.
• Finally, it was launched from a helicopter somewhere unknown in those mountains, where it remains missing to this day.
• Barrios was transferred to Hacienda Los Colorados in the edo. Guárico, where he was shot along with 12 other detainees.
• Two years later, the weekly magazine What Happens in Venezuela, No. 96, of May 20, 1966, confirmed the appearance of the bones of the peasant leader Trino Barrios, with his boots and watch on. The autopsy revealed that he received a graceful shot in the left cheekbone with an exit in the back of his skull.
• At the doors of the farm, leaders of the armed bands of Democratic Action (AD) placed a sign that read: “This is how far Commander Sánchez has come.”
• When Barrios' remains appeared, all the farce contained in the official report of Operation Bachiller 1 was exposed, proving that he was shot (La Extra, No. 202 of September 18, 1964).
• That was when the government of Raúl Leoni admitted the disappearance of the sociologist Soto Rojas and the shooting of Trino Barrios, along with 12 other missing young people, during the so-called Operation Bachelor 1.
• The news of the appearance of these bodies established that they belonged to people shot in various paddocks in Altagracia de Orituco, making known the names of the municipal leaders of AD, who took part in the murders committed by the repressive bodies of the State.
• This edition of La Extra, No. 203, dated September 21, 1964, released the facts about the wave of shootings ordered by the government, with the headline on the front page: “30 Dead Bodies of Shooters Denounced to Have Found in the Potreros de Guárico”.
• The discovery of the 30 bodies was due to peasants alarmed by the wave of murders carried out by police and military bodies, in combination with members of the ruling AD party.
• The multiple contradictions given by different administrative, police and military sources, coordinated by the Minister of Internal Relations Gonzalo Barrios, revealed that the government of Raúl Leoni was repeatedly violating the National Constitution, but was complying with the instructions given by Fort Bragg and the School of the Americas.
• Trino Barrios was born on September 15, 1923 in Aragua de Maturín del Edo. Monagas, cradle of great revolutionaries. In disagreement with the surrender policies of the Punto Fijo Pact and the persecution unleashed by Rómulo Betancourt against former party comrades, he decided to join the ranks of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).
• Víctor Ramón Soto Rojas was born on September 26, 1931 in Altagracia de Orituco, edo. Guárico, son of Rosa Rojas de Soto and Víctor Manuel Soto Cabezas.
• He was the national leader of the MIR and Political Commissioner of the Guerrilla Front Ezequiel Zamora.

Mazo News Team