Published at: 10/12/2025 09:00 PM

(What's happening in Venezuela, December 7, 1965 and El Nacional, December 13, 1965)

• The arrest and death of Manuel Antonio Chirinos, 20 years old, with the identity card V-3,066,470, who was taken prisoner as an alleged guerrilla fighter under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of Police (DIGEPOL), was first reported by El Nacional on 15-12-65 and, later, verified by Deputy Manuel F. Sierra, of the National Popular Vanguard, before the Legislative Assembly of the state of Falcón.
• Chirinos was arrested on November 11, 1965, at 9:00am, in the immediate vicinity of Plaza Bolívar, intersection with Ampies and Garcés Street in the city of Coro, when his perpetrators presumed that he was preparing to carry out political action.
• To all these, the Ministry of Defense issued a statement in which it admitted that “when occupying one of the camps located near the Agua Larga hamlet... the bodies of Manuel Antonio Chirinos, alias Jaime; Justiniano Aguilar, alias Dumbo and Martín González, were found”.
• During the investigation carried out by the Legislative Assembly, the arrest and death, under the same circumstances, of Justiniano Aguilar and Martín González came to light, with sufficient evidence certifying that all three were handed over alive by DIGEPOL agents to the Cabure Anti-Guerrilla Command No. 1 (TO1).
• Thanks to the complaint published in El Nacional in December 1965, and the request for an investigation before the Legislative Assembly, it became known about the arbitrary arrest and subsequent murder of these five alleged guerrilla fighters.
• What is not known, to date, is how the three bodies walked several kilometers from the headquarters of DIGEPOL, in the city of Coro, to the Agua Larga hamlet, and from there another long distance, passing their final destination in the TO1 of Cabure, in the same edo. Falcon.
• 1965 was a year in which Venezuela lived under the sign of terror imposed by the Government of Raúl Leoni and its super minister, Gonzalo Barrios.
• Among the list of living detainees who eventually appeared dead or simply disappeared forever are:
  • In October 1965, the professor and Secretary General of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) Alberto Lovera was arrested in the Plaza de Las Tres Gracias, Caracas.
  • In Maracaibo, on August 22, 1965, Carlos Guillén Rodríguez and the 13-year-old Félix Linares disappeared.
  • On May 15, 1965, the brothers José Amador Linares and Remigio Antonio Linares were arrested and disappeared in the Portuguese state.
  • On August 17, 1965, Mrs. Rosa Rosas de Andarcia reported the arrest and disappearance of her son José Andarcia López and a friend of his, José Inocencio González, by members of DIGEPOL.
  • On October 25, 1965, Luis Rafael Tineo Gamboa reported that his brother, Luis Beltrán Tineo Gamboa, was arrested in the Ipure hamlet of Maturín and taken to Piedra de Moler mountain, where he was forced to dig his own grave.
  • On September 9, 1965, the literacy teacher, actor and broadcaster César Burguillos, as well as the union leader and social fighter Donato Carmona, were shot, leaving no trace of them until now.
  • The same case of torture and disappearance was that of Roger Zapata and Octavio Romero, both detained in Carúpano, edo. Sucre, on August 15, 1965; his whereabouts are unknown to date.

Mazo News Team