Nine members of criminal gangs were killed this Monday during procedures carried out in Guárico and Aragua, according to reports.
One of the operations took place in Santa Rita, Francisco Linares Alcántara municipality, Aragua state; specifically in the Las Letras sector, streets 11 and 12, where armed individuals began an exchange of shots with the police-military commission that approached the place.
As a result of that confrontation, six criminals were killed and two police officers were injured. One of the injured agents is identified as Wilfredo Rangel, with the rank of first officer, belonging to the Criminal Investigation Service of the Bolivarian Police of Aragua.
And in Guárico, three were killed, members of the gang founded by Octavio José Rojas Martínez (El Fiebre), a member of the Tren del Llano. In that case, the fight took place in La Peña, a rural area of the Leonardo Infante municipality (Valle de la Pascua), where three individuals were killed.
At the scene of the confrontation, officials collected three rifles (7.62x51mm, AK47 caliber 7.62x39mm and AR15, caliber 5.56x39mm). In addition to a Taurus 9mm pistol; two shotguns (20 and 16 gauges); 45 cartridges; eight chargers; two Starlink antennas and a solar panel, according to a partial report.
This procedure was carried out within the framework of Operation Zaraza Fragmentary Order Tucupido, one of the nine operations that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces keep active as part of the Bolivarian Shield.
Medium and small producers in eastern Guárico (Valle de la Pascua, Tucupido and Zaraza) are extorted by criminal gangs linked to the Tren del Llano, according to testimonies. Due to this, many agricultural producers have had to abandon their properties because they are forced to sell livestock and crops to pay the dollar fees demanded by the Tren del Llano cells located in that region, according to the testimonies collected.
In this regard, this Monday during the Con Maduro + program, President Nicolás Maduro announced that in the next few hours the Minister of the Interior Diosdado Cabello will offer statements ”on new modus operandi of criminal gangs”.
