Published at: 29/01/2025 09:00 PM

(EL UNIVERSAL and LATEST NEWS, January 23-25, 1962)

• In Caracas, on January 24, 1962, the areas of Lomas de Urdaneta, Lídice and January 23 were cordoned off and raided by army personnel.
• The day before, the Government of Rómulo Betancourt ruled that peaceful demonstrations in popular areas of Caracas, in solidarity with the transport strike, were “insurrectional and subversive in nature”.
• Contradictorily, none of those killed, shot and injured, only government police officers were armed.
• However, despite the union and non-violent nature of the demonstrations, Betancourt did not hesitate to unleash a fierce repression that left 28 dead, 104 injured and more than a thousand arrested in Caracas.
• The strike initially broke out on January 19 in San Cristóbal, leaving three dead, dozens injured and hundreds arrested. Unrest over this massacre is spreading across the country.
• In Lomas de Urdaneta, on January 23 and Lídice, victims of police brutality fell:
  • Esther Maria Flores.
  • Emilio Dos Santos.
  • Pilar Ponce Blanco.
  • Santiago Jose Figueroa.
  • Felipe Chaparro.
  • Rafael Hurtado.
  • Alfredo Rafael Tirado.
  • Omar Sirit Rodriguez.
  • Francisco Osorio Mogollon.
  • Mercedes Carlota Ochoa.
  • Ana Lourdes Pacheco.
  • Anibal Jose Jimenez.
  • Simon Hortaja.
  • Isaac Luigi.
  • Castor Carballo.
  • Just Camacho.
  • Jose Ortiz.
  • Simon Rafael Huartaja.
  • Pablo Guillermo Rodriguez.
  • Jose Gustavo Quiroz.
  • King Miguel Arvieca.
  • Rafael Carmona.
• In La Pastora, Isaac Rafael Velásquez Luy was shot dead by National Guard agents in the occipital region.
• Early in the morning, in Lídice, Martín Palacios, 15, was shot dead when he was on the roof of block 57.
• Late at night, Elías David la Rosa, 18, was shot dead by police officers while trying to board a bus on the Santa Teresa-El Cementerio route.
• Another of the victims, in Caracas, was the young 5th year high school student Ramón Augusto Guevara Solórzano, who was shot by Digepol agents near the New Circus.
• During 10 days of peaceful protests and union demonstrations across Venezuela, the government refused to understand that:
  • The transport workers justly considered that the government's measures were harmful to their interests, since they raised the cost of living considerably after the imposition of a law that was inapplicable to the sector.
  • That the abuses by insurance companies were contrary to the spirit of the legislator who requested the deferral of the application of the Civil Liability Insurance Act.
  • That the government, protecting the interests of insurance companies, preferred to turn its weapons against the demonstrators, ignoring the just demands of drivers and transport users.
  • This turned the celebration of the anniversary date of January 23, into the occasion of another act of blood perpetrated by the Betancourt government.

Mazo News Team