For approximately six months, inhabitants and producers of rural areas of San Juan Bautista del Pao, specifically in the Matapalo – El Jobito axis, Cojedes state, have denounced the installation of irregular camps in the vicinity of the La Batalla farm, where the company Agropecuaria La Batalla, CA operates, as well as in other ranches and surrounding communities, a situation that they claim has generated a climate of insecurity and affected the agricultural productivity of the area.
According to testimonies from producers and neighbors, The people who have set up these camps would come from Guanarito and they would have settled without authorization in rural areas near the La Batalla farm. The complainants point out that these groups maintain a threatening attitude against passers-by, workers and producers, and starting this week they entered the privately owned properties of this important and traditional productive unit that even has a protection measure from the competent Agrarian Court.
Producers in the area also claim that there have been disappearances of livestock and, in addition, poaching of protected species, the burning of grasslands and forested areas, as well as the demolition of fences and other agricultural facilities are attributed to these camps. Likewise, they maintain that to provide water, wells have been built irregularly, without prior studies or environmental authorizations, which in their opinion aggravates the impact on the rural environment.
In this context, producers maintain that the situation has become unsustainable both due to the risk to the integrity of people and due to the economic losses derived from damage to crops, infrastructure and herds. Nearby rural communities express feeling overwhelmed by insecurity and fear of possible attackswhile agricultural producers state that their work and investments are seriously threatened. They assure that the deterioration of security conditions and the environmental impact in the area have an impact on the food production capacity and the quality of life of the families that depend on these activities.
Faced with this panorama, citizens, producers and workers in the rural areas of San Juan Bautista del Pao call on the competent authorities to adopt public order measures to stop the reported siege, restore tranquility in the communities and implement actions that protect both agricultural activity and the environment in the municipality.
With information from a press release
