Published at: 18/06/2025 09:00 PM

(Clarín, November 17, 1961)

• Alberto Rudas Mezones, 16, who was studying high school at the Juan Vicente González Night School, was machine-gunned down by police officers on November 15, 1961.
• The next day, a commission from the General Directorate of Police (Digepol) broke into the wake and kidnapped his coffin, which remained missing for 51 years.
• Violating all norms of human consideration and respect, the agents desecrated Alberto's body, to prevent acts of protest and mass demonstrations, physically and morally harassing his mother and family members, victims of police outrage.
• The remains of Rudas Mezones were hidden in a mass grave in the General Cemetery of the South, where they remained hidden until their recognition and exhumation on June 13, 2013.
• On that day in 1961 when he was shot down, Rudas Mezones was participating in a popular rally in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, due to the rupture of diplomatic relations decreed by Betancourt.
• In the vicinity of Plaza O'Leary, he was cornered and eventually killed by Digepoles, between the corners of Puerto Escondido and Puente Nuevo.
• After 51 years, his remains were exhumed and later the deserved tribute was paid to him as a young martyr who fell during the “Representative Democracy.”
• “Comrade Tico”, as he was known, was a leader of the Youth of the Communist Party of Venezuela, who stood out for his proactive and disciplined nature in all the organizational tasks assigned to him.
• He was born on January 14, 1945 in Rio Chico, Edo. Miranda, son of Octaviano Rudas and Carmen Benita Mezones de Rudas.

The Context:

• Just 15 days after the murder of Livia Gourverneur, the Betancourt government claimed another innocent victim, taking the life of Alberto Rudas Mezones.
• At the time of his execution, Betancourt preached in four voices his doctrine of “The New Democratic Era”, some of whose tactics were:
  • “The streets are not owned by the people but by the police.”
  • Another: “Without the victim's body, there is no crime or popular anger.”
  • And the infamous one: “Shoot first and find out later”.
• One of the criminal activities of that State policy was to steal the bodies of its victims. Thus, the home of the Rudas Mezones family was raided, to kidnap and hide the “body of the crime” and “avoid street disorder”.
• At the same time, to neutralize the indignation over the death of Comrade Tico and to paralyze the marches called for the rupture of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the government implemented Operation Assault, with 8 dead in Caracas, 2 in Barquisimeto and hundreds injured throughout the country (16-11-61).
• Batister mafias, brought by the government, were operating openly in Caracas, and they killed Livia Gouverneur, whose burial paralyzed Caracas.
• During this government outrage, on January 23, Livia Rosa Gutiérrez, 19, a mother of two children and pregnant, was shot dead by a rifle shot.
• Under many pretexts, Betancourt developed the creation of a special apparatus to sabotage anti-government demonstrations and activate the hunt for political leaders. This terror machine was made up of:
  • Mercenary anti-Castro Cuban groups, with police credentials, made up of dozens of batister worms that operated from seven farms and several hotels, with all expenses paid, on account of the State security provisions of the Ministry of Internal Relations.
  • The Armed Forces Intelligence Service (SIFA).
  • The Rural Armed Bands of Democratic Action.
  • The Urban Armed Bands of Democratic Action.
  • The para-police groups known as “Los Rurales” and “Los Cobras Negras”, who supported or were at the forefront of shock actions against students, workers, peasants and union leaders, during anti-government demonstrations.

Mazo News Team