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News > Latin America

Venezuelan Campesinos Call for Punishment for Hate Crimes

  • More than 300 leaders have been assassinated in the last years for raising their voices against landowners in the states of Zulia, Barinas, Apure and Portuguesa.

    More than 300 leaders have been assassinated in the last years for raising their voices against landowners in the states of Zulia, Barinas, Apure and Portuguesa. | Photo: AVN

Published 20 July 2017
Opinion

The selective assassination of peasant, political and social leaders is a right-wing strategy to instill terror into society as a weapon of domination, explained Maithe Garcia.

The spokesperson for the Committee of Relatives of Campesino Victims of Assassinations Maithe Garcia said Wednesday that once the National Constituent Assembly is formed it should declare hate crimes as crimes against humanity to ensure peace in the South American country.

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"In the recent terrorist acts promoted by the Venezuelan opposition, seven farm workers were murdered," she said in an interview with the Venezuelan news agency AVN.

Garcia indicated that the perpetrators and masterminds of these hate crimes are the same people who are currently openly justifying the burning, lynching, and murder of people who think differently to them.

The selective assassination of peasant, political and social leaders is a right-wing strategy to instill terror into society as a weapon of domination, she explained.

"In my case, my father Armando Garcia, a campesino leader ... was assassinated in September 2002 between the coup and the oil strike — both calls to violence by the right-wing."

Despite the committee's efforts, there has been no justice in these cases due to procedural delays, said the campesino leader.

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