Venezuelans Remember the 1986 Yumare Massacre

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recalled what happened in Yumare town in the state of Yaracuy on May 8, 1986, when nine social leaders were tortured and killed by the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP).

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"Forbidden to forget! On a day like today, one of the most atrocious and violent actions against our people took place in the country: the Yumare Massacre. These events remind us of how the right wing acts. That is why we reiterate: They will never come back again!," Maduro tweeted.

During the administration of Jaime Lusinchi (1984-1989), the Venezuelan right was determined to eradicate social activists and left-wing militants. In this context, nine social leaders were captured by a DISIP commando.

According to the official narrative, the officials who perpetrated the crime had been ambushed while traveling through a wooded area. In that confrontation, the nine civilian victims allegedly died "in combat."

The tweet reads, "1986: Yumare Massacre, a military operation aimed at eradicating any revolutionary thought. There, nine promoters of the Bolivarian ideal were assassinated."

"Those brothers and sisters killed by fascism and the oligarchy in the Yumare massacre are in our memory. Today their cause encourages us to have the strength to fight and as always, to continue building the revolution together with the people," tweeted Erika Farias Peña, a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

In 2011, the official version of events was dismantled when retired General Alexis Sanchez Paz was sentenced to 13 years in prison after admitting responsibility for the massacre.

The Yumare victims were Rafael Quevedo, Ronald Morao, Nelson Castellano, Dilia Rojas, Luis Guzman, Jose Silva, Pedro Jimenez, Simon Romero, and Alfredo Caicedo.