Published at: 22/10/2025 09:00 PM

(ZETA, EL NACIONAL, 2001 and EL MUNDO, July, August and November 1993)

• Between July and November 1993, several explosive devices detonated in Caracas in order to generate panic in the city and intimidate the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and police forces responsible for investigating former President Jaime Lusinchi, in the case of the fraudulent purchase of 100 Jeeps.
• On July 19, an envelope containing C4 exploded in the Secretary of the Full Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. The archivist, Hugo Betancourt Zerpa, 29, lost half an arm when he opened it.
• The mastermind and financier of these acts of terrorism was Thor Halvorssen Hellum, a senior executive, of Norwegian origin, of the Caracas Stock Exchange, former president of the Venezuelan Anonymous Telephone Company (CANTV) and a collaborating agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to his own statements and credentials.
• Halvorssen is, in addition, the uncle of Leopoldo López Mendoza and father of Thor Halvorssen Mendoza, manager of the Nobel Peace Prize 2025.
• Halvorssen Sr. acted in complicity with officials of the General Sectorial Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention (DISIP), led by the then General Commissioner Henry López Sisco, alias Rambo.
• A few days earlier, judges Alirio Abreu Burelli and Gonzalo Rodríguez Corro received envelopes containing C4 explosives at their homes. Abreu Burelli, upon receiving telephone messages with threats of “we're going to blow them up”, decided not to open it and warned. Thus, the envelopes were stolen and detonated by explosive technicians.
• The jet-set terrorists sent the envelopes from an AEROCAV agency, located in Los Teques, edo. Miranda, with Pedro Carmona's sender, with mobilization guide No. SR-205439.
• Then, on Wednesday, July 28, an explosive device exploded in the ventilation ducts of the gasoline container tanks at the Ávila Service Station, located in the city. Altamira. The attempt to fly the thousands of liters of fuel in the containers failed.
• Later, on Wednesday, August 18, a car bomb exploded at the Ciudad Tamanaco Shopping Center (CCCT), destroying and setting fire to at least a dozen vehicles. The roar was heard miles away, with no injuries or deaths to mourn. Luis and Ricardo Köesling were responsible for the CCCT's security and surveillance systems.
• This terrorist wave of 1993 achieved notoriety because of the C4 bomb placed at the headquarters of the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Commerce of Venezuela (FEDECÁMARAS), causing only material damage.
• Finally, on Saturday, November 6, a “home-made” nipple exploded in the Full Chola parking lot, located in Parque Central, leaving the security guard Cipriano Guzmán Graziani dead and the user Serafín Rivera without a leg.
• Journalists Jurate Rosales and Hindu Anderi were also the target of terrorist attacks, in an attempt to silence complaints. Fortunately, the physical integrity of these two communication professionals was not affected.
• Once again, the great surnames of the Caracas bourgeoisie stained the pages of events in all the newspapers with blood. Halvorssen Hellum, his partner Ramiro Hellmeyer, Ibrahim Velutini Sosa and Andrés Rodríguez Ghersy, were arrested and brought to justice.
• Other prisoners included Álvaro Campins Camejo, released after making his statement to the investigating authorities; Gustavo J. Mancera, lawyer and financial advisor to former president Herrera Campins; Alan Torres Oliver, Andrés Manuel Rodríguez and Danilo Díaz Granados. Likewise, in the interior of the country, Carlos Freddy Gamboa, another of those mentioned by Hellmeyer in his confession, surrendered.
• During the 74 days of Halvorssen's imprisonment, his son launched an international campaign to release him. Organizations such as Amnesty International, the International Society for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee came together to lobby, and he was acquitted of all charges.
• Hellmeyer was the only one sentenced to the maximum sentence, and was released from prison in 2000, despite the fact that his record contained the murder of the mobster Mario Patti, whom he threw into the void from his private plane, a 20-minute flight from La Tortuga Island, for an adjustment of outstanding debts to be collected.
• Ricardo Köesling, involved in the CCCT car bomb, would star in the April 2002 assault on the Cuban Embassy, together with Capriles Radonsky, Cristóbal Romero Irribarren, Salvador Romani and others.
• In 1978, Halvrossen Hellum was Venezuela's official liaison to the United States Security Council for drug trafficking issues, representing Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Mazo News Team