Farmers from Venezuela Appeal for Aid and Inquiry Following Devastating Fire Incident
Title: Burning Woes in Venezuela's Countryside: Los Tramojos Fire Causes Chaos
January 22, 2024 | venezuelanalysis.com
Locked in a hazardous blaze, the rural collective at Los Tramojos calls for government aid amidst the ruins of their livelihood. The Ezequiel Zamora Campesino Council, home to 33 campesino families, has urged for assistance after a disastrous fire engulfed more than 2,900 hectares.
"It's a bloody slaughter," council spokesperson Ramón "Niño" Soto exclaimed to VenezuelAnalysis on Sunday. "Everything is gone: houses, enclosures, water sources, and grazing lands." Most significantly, the fire has decimated their pastures, leaving the campesinos unable to sustain their crucial cattle-rearing operations.
The loss is substantial - with a herd of approximately 800 cattle that swells yearly to over 2000, there's little left to feed them. "Cattle rearing is our lifeline," Soto said, "and we've nowhere to graze them now."
Multiple farmlands surrounding Los Tramojos have been ravaged by the inferno. The acrid smoke clouding the Guárico skyline indicates a burnt landscape spanning thousands of hectares. Soto has urged for economic support from the government as well as a comprehensive criminal investigation into the fire.
Soto alleges that the fire originated on Wednesday in a neighboring property belonging to landowner José Elías Chirimelli. His workers, Soto claims, had ignited a garbage pile in an effort to prepare the land for corn cultivation. Despite the arid conditions and strong winds, the blaze spiraled out of control.
Corn is crucial to Guárico's agriculture, but Chirimelli's property stands in the way. "It's impossible to grow corn without appropriate irrigation systems," Soto asserted. "The fire was obviously deliberate, aiming to wipe us out."
The Ezequiel Zamora Campesino Council filed complaints with both the local National Guard (GNB) and the police (CICPC). The Land Institute (INTI) sent an assessment team, confirming that 80 percent of Los Tramojos has being reduced to ashes with surrounding farms experiencing the same fate.
The rural collective has fought tirelessly for Los Tramojos, taking on Chirimelli in a decades-long battle for land rights. Despite securing 2,900 hectares, they were evicted in 2017 when Chirimelli produced forged title deeds. With popular support, the council fought on, eventually regaining a portion of the land through the Venezuelan Supreme Court in 2023.
However, the resolution wasn't long-lasting. Tensions escalated significantly with the assassination of Carlos Bolívar in March 2023. Bolívar, a longtime campesino activist and leading figure in the Los Tramojos struggle, was murdered despite a flurry of calls for justice.
Although nine arrests were made in connection to the case, the judicial process has stalled. Sources within the campesino movement reveal that the "intellectual authors" are still at large.
Rural collectives have been plagued by landowner violence. The Campesino Struggle Platform, a group of grassroots organizations, reports that over 350-400 campesino activists have been killed since 2001—many in targeted assassinations with no justice served.
Update: Soto informed VenezuelAnalysis that the fire continued to burn on Tuesday morning, threatening the Portuguesa river, and had engulfed an estimated 30,000 hectares in the area.
Insight: Agricultural fires in Venezuela are often the result of land-clearing practices, disputes over property rights, or undocumented criminal activity. Known as Venezuela's "breadbasket," Guárico faces frequent conflicts over farmland and has seen increased reports of fires during planting/harvest seasons. Investigations into fires can be challenging, with press freedom restrictions, judicial system politicization, and rural access challenges hampering the collection of evidence. Official statements from the Instituto Nacional de Tierras, monitoring by Provea (Venezuelan NGO) or FEDEAGRO (local unions), and international observers like the UN Office for Human Rights can be beneficial for clarifying the situation.
- The Ezequiel Zamora Campesino Council, in a plea to VenezuelAnalysis, has demanded government aid following the devastating Los Tramojos fire that razed more than 2,900 hectares.
- Council spokesperson Ramón "Ninõ" Soto accused landowner José Élias Chirimelli of starting the fire intentionally, which has left their pastures barren and cattle with nothing to graze.
- As the fire raged, Soto also demanded a thorough investigation into the incident, arguing that the aggressive act was designed to drive them out.
- In 2023, the Ezequiel Zamora Campesino Council's long-standing battle for land rights, marked by violence and inconsistent justice, resulted in a court victory; however, the positive resolution was short-lived, with tensions escalating after the assassination of Carlos Bolívar, a key campesino activist.
