Colectivo (Venezuela)
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Colectivos (, "
collectives A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...
") are
far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...
Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
groups that support
Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...
, the Bolivarian government, the
Great Patriotic Pole The Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole ( es, Gran Polo Patriótico Simón Bolívar, GPPSB) is a left-wing socialist and chavist electoral alliance/popular front of Venezuelan political parties created in 2012 to support the re-election of Hu ...
(GPP) political alliance and the ruling party, the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since ...
(PSUV). ''Colectivo'' has become an umbrella term for armed paramilitary groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas and attack individuals, engaging in "extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking and murder". They commit
extrajudicial killings An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...
and terrorize those who disagree with them with impunity. The term may also refer to a community organization with any shared purpose, such as a neighborhood group that organizes social events. Some colectivos began by doing community work or helping with social programs in barrios, and their members said they promoted democracy, political activism and culture. As of 2019, there are dozens of colectivos in Venezuela. In 2018,
InSight Crime InSight Crime is a non-profit journalism and investigative organization specialized in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and Medellín, Colombia. InSight Crime has received funds ...
reported 46 groups in one ''barrio'' (slum), 23 de Enero, alone. They operate in 16  Venezuelan states, controlling about 10% of Venezuelan cities. Some personnel of Venezuela's intelligence agencies, including the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence and the
Bolivarian Intelligence Service The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service ( es, Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 201 ...
, are also members of colectivos. Colectivos have both legal and illegal funding sources. They were initially funded by the Bolivarian government; some receive funds to distribute government food packages and have access to government "slush funds". They are also funded by extortion, black-market food and the drug trade.
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
described colectivos as "armed gangs who use violence with impunity" to harass political opponents of the Venezuelan government.
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
calls them "armed pro-government supporters who are tolerated or supported by the authorities". They have attacked anti-government protesters and Venezuelan opposition television staff, sent
death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...
s to journalists, and once tear-gassed the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
envoy. Through violence and intimidation, in 2019 they have increasingly become a means of quashing the opposition and maintaining political power; Maduro called on them during the
2019 Venezuelan blackouts Nationwide recurring electrical blackouts in Venezuela began in March 2019. Experts and state-run Corpoelec (Corporación Eléctrica Nacional) sources attribute the electricity shortages to lack of maintenance and to a lack of technical experti ...
saying, "The time has come for active resistance", and asking them "to defend the peace of every barrio, of every block". An
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
report on human rights violations in Venezuela stated that colectivos murdered at least 131 individuals between 2014 and 2017 during anti-government protests. The
National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
designated the colectivos as
terrorist groups A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
due to their "violence, paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes," declaring their acts as
state-sponsored terrorism State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terrorist ...
.


Description and history

Colectivos emerged during the 1960s from
guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
in urban Venezuela, and made a return during the presidency of
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
, when Chávez created their parent organizations, known as Bolivarian Circles.
InSight Crime InSight Crime is a non-profit journalism and investigative organization specialized in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and Medellín, Colombia. InSight Crime has received funds ...
says their power began to increase in 2002, when Chávez decided he needed a security force independent of the military to counteract opposition demonstrators. In 2006, they received arms and funding from the state when they were brought under the government's community councils. Chávez eliminated the Metropolitan Police in 2011, turning security over to the colectivos in some Caracas barrios. ''Bloomberg'' says that when he created the Bolivarian Circles, Chávez "brought the former outlaws into the socialist fold", where some also gained access to weapons through government jobs.
Stratfor Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American geopolitics publisher and consultancy founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online public ...
says that
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
—president of the 2017 Constituent National Assembly but then serving as chief of staff for Chávez—was instrumental in the founding of the Bolivarian Circles, and maintains close ties to the colectivos. According to Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, colectivos were modeled after the Iranian
Basij The Basij ( fa, بسيج, lit. "The Mobilization"), Niru-ye Moghāvemat-e Basij ( fa, نیروی مقاومت بسیج, "Resistance Mobilization Force"), full name Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin ( fa, سازمان بسیج مستضعفین, "The ...
militia; Humire noted that Chávez had personal meetings with Iranian officials that included the commander of Basij, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Nadqi. Chávez assigned colectivos to be "the armed wing of the Bolivarian Revolution" for the Venezuelan government, giving them weapons, communication systems, motorcycles and surveillance equipment to exercise control in the hills of Caracas where police are forbidden entry. Some weapons given to the groups include assault rifles,
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
s and
grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...
. Colectivos were historically aligned with far-left politics in Venezuela, and act as "enforcers for the government", working with the
Venezuelan armed forces The National Bolivarian Armed Forces ( es, Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana - FANB) of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the army, navy, and air force there ...
and the ruling political party,
PSUV The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a left-wing to far-left socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2010. It was formed from a merger of some of the p ...
. New York University Latin American Studies professor Alejandro Velasco said in 2019, "They have all the trappings of a paramilitary repressive force." Velasco, who studies colectivos, describes a change in the allegiance of colectivos, saying it has become more about power than supporting
chavismo ''Chavismo'' (from es, chavismo), also known in English as Chavism or Chavezism, is a left-wing political ideology based on the ideas, programs and government style associated with the Venezuelan President between 1999 and 2013 Hugo Chávez that ...
or a leftist ideology. ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' says they bring money into slums, punish criminals and intimidate political opponents. Some colectivos partake in
drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
, control access to the supply of food and medicine, and commit acts of
extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
. In 2008, some colectivos helped with after-school programs, child care centers, puppet shows, drug rehabilitation, and sports programs; they also encouraged voting by going door to door and protect communities from criminals. Every member of a colectivo is required to bring ten individuals to vote at polls during elections. Over time, colectivos became more heavily armed and their criminal activity increased. A small number of groups maintain community and cultural functions; most are "criminal gangs with immense social control", who "work alongside the security forces, often doing their dirty work for them", according to InSight Crime. Members can be difficult to identify because they often wear masks and do not have license plates on their motorcycles. The
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
has described colectivos as "pro-Government armed groups" that "decide who receives government assistance and perform surveillance and intelligence activities for the authorities nd haveintimidated, threatened and attacked people perceived as opposed to the Government". In 2019, the
National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
designated the colectivos as terrorist groups due to their "violence paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes", declaring their acts as
state-sponsored terrorism State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terrorist ...
.


Activity


2002–13

When Chávez was briefly ousted in 2002, colectivos helped lead demonstrations supporting him, and worked with the military to help return him as president. On 7 November 2007, masked gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire on students returning from a march in Caracas. At the
Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...
, eight people were injured, including one by gunfire. In 2009, several dozen motorcyclists with red berets surrounded the entrance of the offices of television station
Globovisión Globovisión is a 24-hour television news network. It broadcasts over-the-air in Caracas, Aragua (state), Aragua, Carabobo and Zulia on Ultra high frequency, UHF channel 33. Globovisión is seen in the rest of Venezuela on cable or satellite ( ...
and subdued the security guards, entering the facility by force while tossing two tear gas canisters into the building. Chávez condemned the attack and pro-government leader Lina Rón was jailed for three months following the incident. Colectivos tear-gassed the Vatican envoy in 2009 after Chávez accused the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
of interfering with his government. During the 2012 presidential election, at a visit by opposition candidate
Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, ...
to the San José de Cotiza neighbourhood in Caracas, a group of armed PSUV members began firing guns "in an apparent effort to break up the rally". Five people were injured, including the son of an opposition member of the
National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
. Capriles was subsequently taken safely from the scene. Journalists for television channel
Globovisión Globovisión is a 24-hour television news network. It broadcasts over-the-air in Caracas, Aragua (state), Aragua, Carabobo and Zulia on Ultra high frequency, UHF channel 33. Globovisión is seen in the rest of Venezuela on cable or satellite ( ...
that were covering the rally (reporter Sasha Ackerman, cameraman Frank Fernández and assistant Esteban Navas) were threatened by the armed men, who confiscated their equipment and footage of the shootings. A Globovisión statement the next day identified the armed men as PSUV supporters, saying "These groups wore red shirts identifying them with a political tendency. More importantly, it was an armed and organized group that fired weapons against people". During the 2013 presidential election, ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
'' said colectivos were "a key part of the government's electoral machinery" that "help dsway close races and are sometimes tarred by critics as poll station thugs who intimidate opponents". The
Carter Center The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidenti ...
said that during the elections, voting centers had an "intimidating climate" when motorcyclists "associated with the governing party" surrounded them.


2014–16

The Venezuelan Prison Minister, Iris Varela, said that colectivos were a "fundamental pillar in the defense of the homeland". During the
2014 Venezuelan protests In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict ...
against new president
Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...
, colectivos acted with impunity against the opposition protesters. When armed groups threatened to rape individuals in an apartment complex in
Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...
, the National Guard did not intervene. The Civil Association for Citizen Control said that more than half of those killed during the protests were killed by colectivos. During the 2014 protests, armed colectivos attacked and burned a large portion of Fermín Toro University after intimidating student protesters and shooting one. The colectivos broke into the facility, looted, and damaged 40% of the university. Armed groups reported to be colectivos attacked the University of Los Andes in the city of Mérida in March 2015, supposedly to intimidate the protesters, shooting guns at students and faculty, holding the students hostage and stealing belongings of students. President Maduro thanked some groups of motorcyclists for their help against what he viewed as a "fascist coup d'etat... being waged by the extreme right"; at the same time, he distanced himself from armed groups by stating that they "had no place in the revolution".
Jorge Arreaza Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat (Venezuelan ; born 6 June 1973) is a Venezuelan politician who has held several important positions in the administration of President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro. From August 2017 to August ...
, Venezuela's vice president at the time, also praised them saying, "If there has been exemplary behavior it has been the behavior of the motorcycle colectivos that are with the Bolivarian revolution." In 2014, Arreaza promised that the government would disarm all irregular armed groups in Venezuela. The
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
asked the Venezuelan government to "immediately disarm and dissolve the uncontrolled armed pro-government groups and end their impunity". United States Secretary of State
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
accused the Venezuelan government of using "armed vigilantes" against those who opposed it. In a report titled "Punished for Protesting",
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
(HRW) stated that government forces allowed colectivos "to attack protesters, journalists, students, or people they believed to be opponents of the government with security forces just meters away" and that "in some cases, the security forces openly collaborated with the pro-government attackers". HRW also stated that they "found compelling evidence of uniformed security forces and pro-government gangs attacking protesters side by side", and that the government tolerated this activity.


Robert Serra's murder

Rising
PSUV The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a left-wing to far-left socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2010. It was formed from a merger of some of the p ...
member and colectivo mediator
Robert Serra Robert Serra (16 January 1987 – 1 October 2014) was a Venezuelan politician from Maracaibo and a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Early life According to political analyst Helly An ...
was stabbed more than 30 times, killing him, in his "heavily guarded home" on 1 October 2014. The Venezuelan government blamed the opposition for Serra's death; ''
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
'' said others considered his murder "
inside job An insider threat is a malicious threat to an organization that comes from people within the organization, such as employees, former employees, contractors or business associates, who have inside information concerning the organization's security ...
" because the government was "more factionalized since the death of Hugo Chávez" with different "ideological strains and interests
lashing Lash or Lashing may refer to: * Eyelash * Whiplash (disambiguation) * Lashing (ropework), a form of connecting solid objects tightly using rope or cord * Flagellation, a form of torture or punishment involving a whip * Backlash (engineering), clea ...
beneath the party’s surface". A week after Serra's death, clashes between Venezuelan police and colectivos began when police raided the headquarters of the Shield of the Revolution group and according to José Odreman, "a close associate of Serra" and leader of the 5 de Marzo group, a colectivo member was "shot dead in his sleep" during the raid. Three officers were allegedly taken hostage. Right before he was shot, Odreman had made statements hinting at government involvement in Serra's death, saying to Minister
Miguel Rodríguez Torres Miguel Eduardo Rodríguez Torres (born 21 January 1964) was the Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela from 2013, until he was replaced by Carmen Meléndez on 24 October 2014. Early life Torres was born in 19 ...
, “I lay full responsibility on you of what might happen to me. Enough comrades have been sacrificed”. Also available a
San Diego Tribune
A little over an hour after his statements, photographs emerged showing the 5 de Marzo colectivo leader Odreman being held captive by Venezuelan authorities, followed by videos which showed his dead body lying in a pool of blood. The Venezuelan government denied any relationship to Serra's death and stated that the clashes between colectivos and authorities were due to a murder investigation. The director of CICPC, José Gregorio Sierralta, stated that officers were allegedly fired upon and responded with deadly force that killed the colectivo members including Odreman. Residents of the building denied Sierralta's statements, stating that there was no confrontation or hostages, that Venezuelan authorities first raided the building allegedly killing one member in his sleep then raided the building once more supposedly capturing and executing the other four colectivo members, altered nearby evidence and stole items from the scene. Maduro stated that the five men who were killed in the incident were allegedly a gang of former police officers led by Odreman. ''Runrunes'' noted in an investigative article that the police and bodyguards arrested by Venezuelan authorities involved with Serra's death were also members of colectivos. Following the clashes, Humberto López ("El Ché"), a colectivo leader, stated that all colectivos were on " war footing" and that the colectivos "did not bet on death, we are committed to war. All colectivos are up in arms." Noting that the Venezuelan Housing Mission buildings are in the hills of Caracas, El Ché assured that "the people would come down from the hills" if needed. Colectivos protested against the incidents and demanded the dismissal of then
Ministry of Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace The Ministry of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace (''Ministerio del Poder Popular para Relaciones Interiores, Justicia y Paz'') is one of 39 agencies that make up the executive office of the Venezuelan government . This ministry i ...
,
Miguel Rodríguez Torres Miguel Eduardo Rodríguez Torres (born 21 January 1964) was the Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela from 2013, until he was replaced by Carmen Meléndez on 24 October 2014. Early life Torres was born in 19 ...
. Weeks later, on 24 October, Rodríguez Torres was replaced by
Carmen Meléndez Carmen Teresa Meléndez Rivas (born 3 November 1961) is a Venezuelan politician and Navy admiral. She was Minister of Interior and Justice from 25 October 2014 to 9 March 2015, and Chief of Staff in President Nicolás Maduro's cabinet for near ...
, with one of the reasons allegedly being the pressure colectivos placed on the government. Maduro also called on
Freddy Bernal Freddy Alirio Bernal Rosales is the ex-mayor of the Libertador Municipality in Caracas, Venezuela and a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Law enforcement Prior to becoming a politician, the BBC says he "commanded a notor ...
, a government leader with close ties to colectivos, to "reform" the police after the incident. Following the dismissal of Rodríguez Torres, the 5 de Marzo colectivo also called for the dismissal of
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
.


2017–18

During the
2017 Venezuelan protests The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's g ...
against Maduro, ''The New York Times'' stated that colectivos "appear to be playing a key role in repressing dissent"; they fight alongside officials and "engage in fiercer and often deadly intimidation". ''Bloomberg News'' said Maduro "unleashed the gangs on a large scale" during the protests. Days before the
Mother of All Marches The Mother of All Marches ( es, La madre de todas las marchas), also known as the Mother of All Protests, was a day of protests held on April 19, 2017, in Venezuela against the Chavista government of president Nicolás Maduro. The protests beg ...
,
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
, a high-level PSUV official loyal to the Bolivarian government, stated that 60,000 motorized colectivos and the Bolivarian Militia would be spread throughout Caracas on 19 April to deter the opposition's march, calling the protest terrorism. During that march, Carlos Moreno, a 17-year-old boy, and 23-year-old Paola Ramírez, were killed by members of colectivos.
*
*
Colectivos also attacked Venezuela's opposition-majority
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
in 2017. Taking over the building where the legislature meets, they beat deputies and protesters with clubs and batons, splitting open the head of one deputy. As the 2017 protests intensified, during the 11 May
United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
Worldwide Threats Hearing (SH-216), Senator
Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...
discussed with
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the D ...
Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...
the role and actions of colectivos in Venezuela. Rubio asked if there was a "real threat" of colectivos selling advanced weaponry to the
FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...
, drug cartels or terrorists on the black market, to which Director Pompeo replied, "it is a real threat ... Maduro gets more desperate by the hour, the risk of these colectivos acting in a way that is not under his control increases as time goes on as well", mentioning that there has not been evidence of major arms deals taking place, though "stockpiles exist". Colectivos were involved in the 2018 operation to kill Venezuelan rebel
Óscar Alberto Pérez Óscar Alberto Pérez (7 April 1981 – 15 January 2018) was a Venezuelan rebel leader and an investigator for the Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC, Venezuela's investigative agency. He was also an actor i ...
, working alongside Venezuelan troops during the
El Junquito raid The El Junquito raid (codenamed Operation Gideon) was a police and military raid that occurred on 15 January 2018 in El Junquito, Capital District, Venezuela, which resulted in the death of rebel Óscar Alberto Pérez and members of his movem ...
. Heiker Leobaldo Vásquez Ferrera of a colectivo located in 23 de Enero was killed during the operation, with
Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014 ...
and Forensic Architecture highlighting that such cooperation between colectivos and Venezuelan authorities showed there was little separation between them. In early 2018, ''Voice of America'' said members of colectivos in Aragua state appeared on a Colombian radio show and explained that they were paid by the government to violently prevent opposition marches and that some of their colleagues had "murdered several people".
Russian government The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
has supplied "specialists" who were allegedly involved in training of colectivos back in 2018.At the time
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
was in charge of President.


2019

InSight Crime says that colectivos provided strong support for Maduro when he assumed the presidency in his disputed second term. With National Assembly-designated acting President of Venezuela,
Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician, a former member of the Social democracy, social-democratic Popular Will party, and federal deputy to the National Assembly (Venezuela), National Assembly representing ...
, challenging Maduro's claim to the office, and amid an international effort to convince Maduro to step down and allow humanitarian aid into the country, ''Bloomberg News'' reported that colectivos "led the charge" against the opposition to Maduro. Because Guaidó offered an amnesty law to officials and military officers who disavow Maduro, and the colectivos have "nothing to lose", the "government may be using colectivos to relieve pressure on the military" during the 2019 Venezuelan protests, according to Velasco. As tens of thousands of protesters marched in support on the day that Guaidó took the oath to serve as president, ''The Guardian'' reported that Maduro "allies threatened the use of armed pro-government militias–known as colectivos—to quell disturbances". Rafael Uzcátegui—Director of Venezuela's human rights organization,
PROVEA The ''Venezuelan Education-Action Program on Human Rights'' or PROVEA ( es, Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos) is one of the most prominent Venezuelan human rights organizations. According to the United Nations Human R ...
—said there were 43 deaths at the protests as of 6 February; he believed most could be attributed to Venezuela's Special Action Force (FAES), followed by the colectivos. InSight Crime said that it is likely that Maduro "recruited (...) FAES members from the colectivos for their callousness and bloodthirstiness". ''The Washington Post'' said colectivos are increasingly made up of government or police personnel. Over the weekend of 23–24 February, as Guaidó and the opposition sought to bring humanitarian aid across Venezuela's borders and into the country, colectivos attacked people at both the Colombian and Brazilian borders. ''Bloomberg'' said "within a block of an international bridge where food and medicine were waiting" for aid to enter, "colectivos terrorized thousands". They fired weapons from speeding motorcycles, and one protester stated that masked men stepped from behind a row of
Venezuelan National Guard The Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela ( es, Guardia Nacional Bolivariana de Venezuela - GNB), is one of the four components of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The national guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, or ...
and fired on the crowd at the Venezuelan border, while a doctor said that colectivos terrorized with weapons medics who were volunteering to help the wounded. At the Brazilian border, ''Bloomberg'' reported that observers said "colectivos ran rampant"; four died and hundreds were wounded. Humberto Prado, the director of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, "accused the Maduro government of releasing prison inmates to fill the colectivos' ranks in their repression efforts", according to InSight Crime. As many military personnel defected into Colombia during the border clashes, InSight Crime suggested that "many of those who fled (...) did so because they were forced to work with the colectivos". The ''South Florida Sun'' reported that "colectivos have escalated attacks (...) opening fire on civilians and terrorizing communities." InSight Crime says that, as a result of the
crisis in Venezuela The crisis in Venezuela is an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened in Nicolás Maduro's presidency. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation ...
, some colectivo members "are beginning to waver in their allegiance to the government because they have not been receiving the economic benefits they once did", but that "they fear persecution should they abandon the government’s revolution". ''The Washington Post'' said that Maduro relies on them and they help him stay in power in spite of a crumbling economy; Chávez was more popular and not as dependent on colectivos, while Maduro is unpopular because of the economic conditions in the country, and has resorted to violence and intimidation for power.
Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
stated that opposition demonstrations "are routinely broken up by masked motorcyclists who open fire onto crowds" and that the government relies on the "loyalty of these irregular paramilitary groups to deal with the public heavy-handedly rather than the military, which could potentially disobey uncomfortable orders and cause a government-military rupture". During the
2019 Venezuelan blackouts Nationwide recurring electrical blackouts in Venezuela began in March 2019. Experts and state-run Corpoelec (Corporación Eléctrica Nacional) sources attribute the electricity shortages to lack of maintenance and to a lack of technical experti ...
in March, Maduro called on the armed paramilitary gangs, saying, "The time has come for active resistance". US State Department special envoy to Venezuela
Elliot Abrams Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is currently ...
labeled this a "breakdown in law and order", and said, "That's calling for armed gangs to take over the streets (...) Perhaps it is a sign of Maduro's lack of confidence in his own security forces." As blackouts continued, on 31 March, citizens protested the lack of electricity and water in Caracas and other cities; some of the protests occurred close to the presidential palace. Maduro called again on the colectivos, asking them "to defend the peace of every barrio, of every block". Videos circulated on social media showing colectivos threatening protesters and shooting in the streets; two protesters were shot. In 2019, the
National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
designated the colectivos as terrorist groups due to their "violence paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes", declaring their acts as
state-sponsored terrorism State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terrorist ...
.


2020–22

On 29 February 2020, shot at the Speaker of the
National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician, a former member of the Social democracy, social-democratic Popular Will party, and federal deputy to the National Assembly (Venezuela), National Assembly representing ...
mobilized a march against Nicolás Maduro in the Juan de Villegas parish,
Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; guc, Watkisimeeta) is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the f ...
,
Lara state Lara State ( es, Estado Lara, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Barquisimeto. Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2015, had a census population of 2,019,211. Toponymy The state is named after a notable ...
. Colectivos shot at Guaido's supporters and him, who was in a van at the time, leaving ten injured. On 3 November 2022, colectivos attacked and denailed four female students of the University of the Andes that were protesting against the visit in
Mérida state Mérida or Merida may refer to: Places *Mérida (state), one of the 23 states which make up Venezuela *Mérida, Mérida, the capital city of the state of Mérida, Venezuela *Merida, Leyte, Philippines, a municipality in the province of Leyte *M ...
of
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
, vice-president of the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since ...
(PSUV).


Prominent groups

There were between 20 and 100 different colectivo groups in Venezuela as of 2014, with the most prominent groups being the
Tupamaros The Tupamaros – National Liberation Movement ( es, Movimiento de Liberación Nacional – Tupamaros, MLN-T), widely known as Tupamaros, was a Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group in Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s. The MLN-T is inextricab ...
, La Piedrita, Tres Raices, Frente Francisco de Miranda, Alexis Vive, and Ciudad Socialista Frente 5 de Marzo, In 2018,
InSight Crime InSight Crime is a non-profit journalism and investigative organization specialized in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and Medellín, Colombia. InSight Crime has received funds ...
reported 46 groups in the 23 de Enero barrio alone. They control about 10% of Venezuelan cities, and operate in 16  Venezuelan states; Velasco says they number 5,000 to 7,000 individuals nationwide as of 2019. InSight Crime says that Tres Raíces and Frente 5 de Marzo are closely linked with Venezuela's security forces. Tres Raíces is also "one of the better armed" with members also working government jobs for
SEBIN The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service ( es, Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 201 ...
(Intelligence), DGCIM (military counterintelligence), FAES (police special action force) or municipal police.


La Piedrita

La Piedrita colectivo is one of the most influential in Caracas, specifically in 23 de Enero barrio where it has its roots dating to 1985 with founders Carlos Ramírez and Valentín Santana. La Piedrita formally organized when Bolivarian Circles were established by Chávez in Venezuela, and since then, has been described as a colectivo that is one of "the most violent in the country". La Piedrita was also headed by Lina Ron, who at the time of her leadership stated that thousands of Bolivarian Circles such as her own were "armed to the teeth". Ron allegedly had a connection with
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
from as early as 2002 when Cabello was allegedly the key supporter of Ron. Also, Cabello had supposedly mediated between La Piedrita and the Tupamaros when they had a conflict in 2010.


Tupamaros

The Revolutionary Tupamaro Movement (Tupamaro) is a far left Marxist-Leninist colectivo and political organization in Venezuela. Several Tupamaros participate in peaceful movements while some believe the "idea of armed struggle as a means to gain power". Chávez's government had an "ambiguous" relationship with the Tupamaros, who helped manage social programs, such as child care and drug rehabilitation centers, and promoted political participation; however, the Tupamaros' involvement in vigilante justice in high crime areas that the police force often avoided led to rifts with the federal government, which resorted on occasions to using the military to deal with the groups when they clashed with police. The Tupamaros are known to "cleanse" neighborhoods of criminals: if repeated warnings to criminals to leave an area fail, they often resort to murder using "
death squads A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...
", though some claim that these measures are taken to remove competition in the area. It was alleged that during the 2014 Venezuelan protests, Tupamaros worked with the Venezuelan National Guard to attack protesters, with videos and pictures uploaded to social networks purporting this to be true.


Funding and resources


Monetary

Colectivos were initially funded by the Bolivarian government, but became less dependent on the government, by funding themselves through crimes such as drug trafficking and extortion. Gunson states that some funding for colectivos comes from demanding payment for protection and requiring members to pay fees. According to ''The New York Times'', colectivos "control vast territory across Venezuela, financed in some cases by extortion, black-market food and parts of the drug trade as the government turns a blind eye in exchange for loyalty". ''The Washington Post'' says some colectivos "have been put in charge of the distribution of government food packages in poor areas—giving them control over hungry neighborhoods. In 2018,
InSight Crime InSight Crime is a non-profit journalism and investigative organization specialized in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and Medellín, Colombia. InSight Crime has received funds ...
reported that the colectivos have diverse income sources—both legal and illegal. Some run legal, profitable businesses, but also receive government funds, largely through the profitable venture of distributing food through government concessions. One Tupamaro leader told InSight Crime that trafficking food and medicine is as profitable as drug-running, while less risky. InSight Crime also learned that colectivos are running "clandestine casinos". Also availabl
in Spanish.
/ref> Some colectivos, such as the Tupamaros, have formal links with the Venezuelan government and politics, with over 7,000 individuals on the Caracas payroll since 2008.
Stratfor Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American geopolitics publisher and consultancy founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online public ...
says that
Diosdado Cabello Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela , atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
,
Freddy Bernal Freddy Alirio Bernal Rosales is the ex-mayor of the Libertador Municipality in Caracas, Venezuela and a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Law enforcement Prior to becoming a politician, the BBC says he "commanded a notor ...
and Eliezer Otaiza, have been implicated in directing colectivos or helping fund them. Colectivos also receive funds from government funding for community projects. Velasco states that colectivos "receive government funding through both formal and informal channels, including slush funds the government doles out to different sectors" and also have "personal ties between members and government officials to access resources".


Weapons

''
El Pais EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
'' stated that the Venezuelan government directly arms colectivos with weapons. Velasco believes that the same formal and informal methods of receiving funds is used for weapons. These methods include being armed and trained in formal government militias or working as security and bodyguards. Despite the Venezuelan government's statements saying that only official authorities can carry weapons for the defense of Venezuela, colectivos are armed with automatic rifles such as
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...
s, submachine guns, fragmentation grenades, and tear gas.


Social effects

In a March 2014 interview, Reinaldo Iturriza, the Minister of Communes in Venezuela, condemned what he perceived as a campaign to demonize the 'colectivos' by attributing recent violence to them and defining them as armed paramilitary groups. He insisted that "the collectives are not synonymous with guns and violence, but with popular participation, organization, and mobilization, ..with working together with the Bolivarian government to solve specific problems in the communities."


Crime

Colectivos sometimes provide protection from crime in some neighborhoods they are committed to, though some neighborhoods report that colectivos attack neighbors themselves. As colectivos attempted to gain independence from the government, they began "controlling organized crime like drug trafficking in Caracas barrios. Some colectivos patrol the 23 de Enero barrio on motorcycles, masked and armed, supposedly to protect the neighborhood from criminals such as drug dealers. According to ABC News, "it is widely believed that colectivos kill drug traffickers who do not obey their orders". According to the
International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, performing research and analysis on global ...
, colectivos may be involved in drug trafficking, arms dealing, and car theft.
Phil Gunson Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root term ...
, a freelance reporter for foreign media, states that, "It's no secret that many colectivos engage in criminal activities." Gunson reported that colectivos combat criminal gangs in neighborhoods and take over the previous gang's business in crime and also take over buildings already owned by individuals and collect rent from the owners. Colectivos are thought to be partially responsible for the increase in the Venezuelan murder rate, according to the Metropolitan Observatory on Citizen Security. An
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
report on human rights violations in Venezuela stated that colectivos murdered at least 131 individuals between 2014 and 2017 during anti-government protests.


Education

As of 2013, colectivos ran education initiatives. According to Ennio Cardozo, a professor of political science at the
Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...
, colectivos "do talks, forums and they indoctrinate very young kids into
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. The government finances all this. But if you don't agree with them they will shut you out from most of the social programs until you give allegiance to the (socialist) party." The president of the School of Teachers in Tachira, Javier Tarazona, stated that the Venezuelan government encouraged the participation of guerrillas and colectivos in schools and that their involvement allegedly "promotes violence, confrontation and, if necessary, war". The president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Private Education, María Teresa Hernández, declared in 2014 that Resolution 058 passed in 2012 by the government was unconstitutional and that it "seeks for colectivos with political projects of the ruling party to be directly involved in public and private schools". She stated that schoolchildren are "very easy to manipulate" and need to develop political beliefs on their own. Article 102, for example, states that "Education, is a public service, and is grounded on the respect for all currents of thought".


See also

* La Piedrita * Units of Battle Hugo Chávez * Immediate Mobilization Networks *
Dignity Battalions Dignity Battalions ( es, Batallones de la Dignidad) were paramilitary militia units created by Panama's ''de facto'' ruler Manuel Noriega in April 1988 to augment the Panama Defense Forces in defending Panama against possible invasion by the Unit ...
*
Committees for the Defense of the Revolution Committees for the Defense of the Revolution ( es, Comités de Defensa de la Revolución, links=no), or CDR, are a network of neighborhood committees across Cuba. The organizations, described as the "eyes and ears of the Revolution," exist to h ...
*
Red Guards (China) Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lea ...
*
Tonton Macoute The Tonton Macoute ( ht, Tonton Makout) or simply the Macoute was a special operations unit within the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In 1970 the militia was renamed the ' (VSN, Voluntee ...
*
Titushky The Titushky (plural; uk, тітушки, russian: титушки) were mercenary agents in Ukraine who supported the Ukrainian security services during the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, often posing as street hooligans in sports clothing ...
*
List of designated terrorist groups A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...


Notes


References

{{Chávez presidency Venezuelan protests (2014–present) Paramilitary organizations based in Venezuela History of Caracas Bolivarian Revolution Political repression in Venezuela Organizations based in Latin America designated as terrorist Organizations based in South America designated as terrorist Terrorism in Venezuela