HomeNewsAnalysisPro-Government Guerrillas Mix Political, Criminal Interests in Venezuela
ANALYSIS

Pro-Government Guerrillas Mix Political, Criminal Interests in Venezuela

CONTRABAND / 17 JUN 2019 BY VENEZUELA INVESTIGATIVE UNIT EN

Pro-government guerrillas in Venezuela have begun training civilians in armed combat, showing the symbiotic relationship between embattled President Nicolás Maduro and the irregular armed groups that rely on him to protect their criminal interests.

The news website Infobae recently published photos showing members of the Patriotic Forces for National Liberation (Fuerzas Patrióticas de Liberación Nacional -- FPLN) leading civilians in military training exercises in the Venezuelan state of Apure along the border with Colombia. InSight Crime was also provided similar photos.

The training is ostensibly to prepare residents for an invasion by US forces. The images also reveal the participation of local officials, including National Constituent Assembly delegate Orlando Zambrano and Mayor Ofelia Padrón.

SEE ALSO:  Bolivarian Liberation Forces Profile

The FPLN is the most recent incarnation of the Bolivarian Liberation Forces (Fuerzas Bolivarianas de Liberación -- FBL), a guerrilla group that gained notoriety in 1992 for attacks on allegedly corrupt politicians. The organization enjoyed state support under the presidency of Hugo Chávez, allowing it to scale back military operations and attain legitimacy through its political front, the Bolívar and Zamora Revolutionary Current (Corriente Revolucionaria Bolívar y Zamora -- CRBZ).

Following division within the group, leader Jerónimo Paz renamed his faction the FPLN in an effort to distance it from the group’s criminal past. But as pressure increases on the Maduro government, the organization has reverted to using guerrilla tactics and criminal financing to defend the regime.

InSight Crime Analysis

The FPLN’s activities in Apure demonstrate how criminal and political interests intertwine within the armed groups rallying to Maduro’s defense.

Farmers in Apure told InSight Crime that the FPLN effectively controls the cattle business in several municipalities of the state, extorting local ranchers. The group is also involved in the smuggling of cattle and gasoline from Venezuela to Colombia.

Community leaders in Páez municipality confirmed that this criminal network transports contraband fuel across the border by river, paying tolls to the military. Until the closure of the Colombia-Venezuela border, the group also charged large sums of money to guarantee safe passage to those crossing the José Antonio Páez International Bridge.

SEE ALSO: The Armed Groups Propping up Venezuela’s Government

The FPLN’s control of these border economies is facilitated by its close cooperation with security forces and penetration of state institutions. In an interview with InSight Crime, local journalist Sebastiana Barráez affirmed that through the CRBZ, the FPLN commands the region’s communal platforms and directly controls mayors’ offices around the state.

The organization’s presence in Apure has strengthened since former Vice President Ramón Carrizales assumed the state governorship in 2011. Carrizales faces US sanctions for repressing protesters, corruption and blocking humanitarian aid to Venezuela. He also has close ties to the FPLN, according to Barráez.

The FPLN’s training of civilians provides further evidence of how the embattled Maduro government relies on irregular armed groups willing to defend an administration that protects their criminal economies.

This landscape, however, is fractured and volatile. The FPLN has long contested the Apure territory with Colombian guerrilla groups, notably the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN), which has gained strength in Venezuela.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

EX-FARC MAFIA / 15 FEB 2023

The Acacio Medina Front is a dissident group that emerged from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), also known…

COLOMBIA / 17 DEC 2021

A lucrative covert delivery business run by prison guards in Colombia has provided yet another example of the diverse range…

EL KOKI / 14 MAR 2022

In December 2021, residents of Tejerías, a small city in the northern state of Aragua, Venezuela, started to notice strange…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…