The criminal gang of Carlos Luis Revete, alias El Coquí, which operates in the working-class neighborhood Cota 905 of Caracas, located at 4.5 kilometers from the Miraflores Palace, challenged the regime by firing two machine guns at the residence where Nicolás Maduro was staying on June 12, 2021, the Spanish newspaper ABC reported.
Since 2019, Cota 905 has been impenetrable territory for Venezuela’s civil and military police forces, the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported. El Coquí, who has a war arsenal with thousands of munitions of different calibers, rules that neighborhood, where narcotraffickers, kidnappers, murderers, and hit men live, the Colombian TV channel NTN24 and the Venezuelan newspaper El Pitazo reported.
“A study is under way, not only by security organizations […], so that this group of people will give up the hostile attitude they have maintained in the city of Caracas,” General Commissioner Douglas Rico, director of the Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Corps, told state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), on April 26.
The Petare residential development in Caracas, considered the largest and most densely populated neighborhood in the Venezuelan capital, finds itself in a similar situation like Cota 905, threatened by the criminal group of Wuileisys Alexander Acevedo, alias Wilexis. At least 200 heavily armed criminals control the neighborhood, Venezuelan news portal telocuentodo.com reported.
“Undoubtedly, the criminal groups that operate in Cota 905, or the gang that operates in Petare, are the result of the Maduro regime’s failure in terms of security,” said Venezuelan Lieutenant (ret.) José Colina, an exile in Miami who leads the organization Persecuted Venezuelan Politicians in Exile. “Neither the security forces, the armed forces, or much less the civil authorities can enter that territory to make any decision without the consent of criminals who operate in the area.”
In a statement issued on July 13, the legitimate National Assembly’s Delegate Commission reported the presence in Venezuelan territory of Colombian narcotrafficking criminal groups, such as the Clan del Golfo, Los Pelusos, Meta Block, and Libertadores del Vichada Block, and noted that the dictatorship has lost control in the national territory and ceded space to criminal groups that commit illicit and criminal acts with impunity in the country.
“The Venezuelan opposition, which Juan Guaidó leads, reported [on June 29] the presence of nearly 1,500 members of the Colombian guerrilla National Liberation Army in the country’s indigenous territories,” Venezuelan congressman Romel Guzamana told El Nacional. In addition, he reported the presence of members of the Colombian Popular Liberation Army. “These groups are mainly focused on illegal economies, such as coca planting, fuel trafficking, and extortion in border territories,” Guzamana added.
Between April and May, clashes broke out between dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, in Spanish) and the Venezuelan armed forces in the state of Apure. “Eight Venezuelan service members died in clashes with irregular groups on the border with Colombia, raising to 16 the number of casualties since these confrontations began in March,” the German news portal DW reported on April 28. Nearly 200 FARC dissidents killed 15 Venezuelan soldiers on May 4, the Venezuelan digital newspaper El Estímulo reported.
“Finally, the regime has published an obituary on the Ministry of Defense website, where you can read the names of the deceased soldiers,” El Nacional said in an article.
