An episode of xenophobia was suffered by some Venezuelans when they were threatened with death with large-caliber weapons by unidentified subjects, while they were walking near a gas station on the Huaquillas – Naranjal road, Guayas province in Ecuador.
The violent attack in which there were also children was captured on video with a cell phone on the morning of Saturday, August 27, 2022, the website of the Glance from Ecuador.
On Monday, August 29, a community rights defender – who preferred anonymity – showed the recording to the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (HRC).
According to the agency, in the images you can see the moment in which a woman (voiceover) asks for calm: “we are not doing anything.”
Meanwhile, two unidentified individuals with long-barreled firearms threaten the Venezuelans.
“One of the subjects is seen running from the background and points his gun, apparently at the body of someone out of line of sight. The other armed subject drives a four-wheeled motorcycle (quadron), “says the CDH report.
In addition, the agency indicated that the armed man on board the motorcycle, accompanied by a woman, also insulted Venezuelan citizens: “lazy (…) I kill them…”.
To denounce the fact, the CDH attached with a press release the screenshots of the moment in which the violent incident occurred.
According to the human rights defender who disclosed the case, the victims were six adults and four children who were returning from Peru.
This Tuesday, August 30, the CDH sent letters to the Governor of the Province, to the Ombudsman of Ecuador and the Mayor of Naranjal requesting to order an urgent and exhaustive investigation into these death threats and expressions of xenophobia against Venezuelan migrants.
