Nineteen bodies were transferred to Bello Monte

At the headquarters of the Bello Monte Forensic Medicine, the sadness was almost palpable this Sunday. Dozens of relatives of the soldiers who died in the bombing of the Ayala Battalion, in Fuerte Tiuna, went to the scene in the hope of being able to, at least, identify their loved ones.

The victims, far from falling in combat, were surprised by death while resting in bedrooms that ended up completely burned.

The mother, uncles and cousins ​​of GH José Ángel Ilarraza, a member of the Presidential Honor Guard, spent hours of anguish at the scene. They were waiting for the identification of two of the 19 bodies that entered the morgue. “He arrived alive at the Coche Hospital. Of all the bodies, he is the only one that is whole,” they detailed about the 19-year-old young man. However, the reality of his comrades in arms was different.

Such is the case of DGT Jonathan Cordero, 26 years old and originally from Portuguesa. His father, immersed in pain, played a video over and over again in which they both posed smiling. “Many of those who are here recognized them by a small piece of their body or by their teeth, but the truth is that most of them are unrecognizable (…) Jonathan’s legs or the back were not left, and only a part of his face. Imagine when his mother sees him,” lamented a cousin.

S2 Alejandra Oliveros Velásquez, from the east of the country, was one of the youngest in the group. After the attack, she was transferred to the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital, but did not survive. “They were sleeping, they attacked them so that no one could get out,” said a relative.

The deceased soldiers will receive posthumous honors in an official ceremony that was scheduled for the next few hours. Subsequently, the bodies will be delivered to their families for the corresponding funerals.

Caracas hospitals treat wounded soldiers

An uncounted number of wounded were transferred in the early hours of January 3 to the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital after the attack at different points in Fuerte Tiuna, in Caracas, to receive medical attention.

Third Sergeant Major Jean Carlo Rodríguez was one of them. His relatives believe that he miraculously survived the bombing and continue to pray that he will emerge safely after the surgery he underwent, as he needed an arm and a leg to be reconstructed.

“What we know is that he is hospitalized here, he was injured and they already operated on him. He came out of the operation well, thank God. His mother is on her way traveling from the interior of the country,” said relatives who have been in the area around the healthcare center for two days.

One of them, who preferred not to identify himself, arrived from San Antonio de los Altos. He maintained that he hopes that the doctors can provide him with more information, but that he can be calmer knowing that the young man’s life is not in danger.

“We also hope that all those who are injured leave this hospital safely,” he added with faith as he followed a funeral vehicle entering the health center with his eyes.

“To those who have lost family members, we can only extend our condolences and we hope that they are strong because look, thank God our family member did not die. We know that others died and no one wanted this and no one wants it either. What can we tell them? Nothing more than that they have a lot of strength,” he expressed.

The Coche Hospital, the Dr. Vicente Salias Sanoja Military Hospital and the Pérez de León Hospital received soldiers, mostly very young. There is no official data on the number of patients or their current health status.