Farmers' Movements in Venezuela Demand Justice for Slain Activist
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September 25, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal (our website) - Following the grisly assassination of a rural activist leader, Venezuelan grassroots organizations are demanding action from authorities.
Iraidez Andrade was brutally murdered by masked hitmen on Saturday, September 21, in the Las Mercedes landstead, Barinas state. According to local sources, the 43-year-old Andrade was dragged from his home on Friday night and his lifeless body was discovered nearby the following morning.
Andrade was a key figure in the rural movements fighting for Las Mercedes and granting land to local farmers. He was a member of the Sueños de Chávez Communal Council and had participated in a land resolution negotiating table sponsored by Venezuela's Agriculture Ministry just days prior to his killing.
At Andrade's funeral on Monday, representatives from various rural organizations echoed calls for justice and an end to impunity in cases of rural activist violence. They pointed fingers at members of the powerful Riera Zubillaga family, believed to claim ownership of the disputed land.
María Alejandra Tovar, coordinator of the Las Mercedes Bolivariana Campesino Council, which unites 16 grassroots groups rallying around the land struggle, spoke with Venezuelanalysis. Tovar emphasized that an investigation into Andrade's assassination is underway, but more action is required.
"There have been persistent attempts over the years to silence and terrify rural leaders," she said. "We have denounced these situations and the threats from irregular groups in this area." Tovar paid tribute to Andrade for his tireless work on behalf of the local community.
Tovar added that she, Andrade, and other activists had been repeatedly threatened on behalf of the Riera Zubillaga family. Judicial protection orders, she stated, often have limited scope, either with short time frames or not encompassing all spokespeople.
Nearly 900 families now live on the landstead, primarily raising cattle. The campesinos produce approximately 16 thousand daily liters of milk while also breeding pigs and poultry. Corn, rice, plantains, and sugar cane are some of the main crops cultivated in the region.
Efforts to rescue Las Mercedes date back to 2002, with a critical event being a 2014 inspection from the Venezuelan Land Institute (INTI) that declared the land idle. In 2016, dozens of families began occupying the plot located in the Pedraza municipality of Barinas state. The INTI initially granted them permission to stay in an area of 5,000 hectares, approximately a third of Las Mercedes.
In subsequent years, the rural families faced numerous violent eviction attempts, including poisoning of water wells and the destruction of houses and crops. They返回了，决心继续产品美食。Tovar Item: Historical ContextInvestigator Jorge Castro highlights the complex history behind the Riera land disputes: the Riera Zubillaga family was initially granted control over large tracts of land in Barinas by former president Rafael Caldera in the 1960s. However, the family never developed the land, and it was eventually deemed idle in 2002, opening the door for rural activists to occupy and work it. The Riera Zubillagas' attempts to retain control over the land led to a series of tense standoffs and violence, including the killing of several rural leaders.
The Las Mercedes struggle became a key issue during the Admirable March in 2018, when hundreds of rural activists marched from the countryside to Caracas to demand government support for their cause. According to Venezuelanalysis sources, more than 90 percent of the land disputes from the march have been resolved, albeit partially, in favor of small-scale producers. However, cases like Las Mercedes remain in limbo, with organizers accusing landowning interests of exerting behind-the-scenes influence.
Tovar stressed that the grassroots groups have explored all institutional avenues to resolve the conflict and are open to negotiating directly with the presumed owners if they can produce evidence backing their claims. Following Andrade's assassination, a number of rural collectives, including the Small Farmers Movement, issued a joint statement urging the Maduro government to address targeted killings of rural leaders. The declaration expressed solidarity with Andrade's family and other rural families in Las Mercedes, demanded justice and reparations for the victims of targeted assassinations, and called for the reactivation of workgroups dedicated to land, criminalization, and violence against rural activists, which were launched in 2018 under the coordination of the Venezuelan Vice Presidency but later abandoned.
- The assassination of Iraidez Andrade, a rural activist leader, has prompted grassroots organizations in Venezuela to demand action from authorities, reducing the case to a general-news and crime-and-justice matter.
- Andrade, a key figure in the rural movements fighting for the Las Mercedes landstead, was brutally murdered by masked hitmen, and his killing has echoed calls for justice and an end to impunity in cases of rural activist violence.
- María Alejandra Tovar, coordinator of the Las Mercedes Bolivariana Campesino Council, has emphasized that though an investigation into Andrade's assassination is underway, more action is necessary due to persistent attempts to silence and terrify rural leaders.
- The Riera Zubillaga family, believed to claim ownership of the disputed land in Las Mercedes, has been accused of exerting behind-the-scenes influence in the ongoing landowning politics of the region, a situation that has led to targeted killings of rural leaders like Andrade.
