The recruitment of children and adolescents by organized crime in Venezuela constitutes a form of “modern slavery under human trafficking,” warns a report by Cecodap, an organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of the human rights of children. and adolescence.
“What we managed to identify is a recruitment practice through capturing, power asymmetries, deceit and, based on that, they configure the elements of human trafficking, a form of contemporary slavery. In these communities we can affirm that there is this form of slavery”, said Carlos Trapani, general coordinator of Cecodap.
The investigation carried out between October and December 2021 documented the recruitment dynamics of the criminal mega-gang led by Carlos Revette, alias “el Coqui” which, until its dismantling in July of last year, caused terror in Cota 905, El Cementerio and La Vega, neighboring popular areas of western Caracas.
Trapani insisted that the causes that led to the formation of megabands persist and have even “worsened”, and stressed that the fact that they are disjointed does not mean that the phenomenon has disappeared.
The report highlights that “food insecurity, school desertion, domestic violence” and, in general, “the precarious socioeconomic situation they live in” are the main causes of the recruitment of children and adolescents.
“You have to understand that there is a structural issue that makes these phenomena materialize and until the structural is addressed, the risks of recruitment will be present,” Trapani insisted during the presentation of the research.
Edgar López, a member of the investigative team, explained that Cecodap identified “a kind of criminal ladder”, made up of the positions held by children and adolescents in the mega gang.
“There are increasing degrees of involvement of children and adolescents with the mega-gangs and the more they immerse themselves in the organization, the more risks they run, the higher they climbed that ladder, the closer they were to death,” he revealed.
Vanessa Moreno, communications coordinator for Cecodap, insisted on the need to make the problem visible, which, according to what a State source told her, “doesn’t just happen in Caracas, it happens throughout the country.”
Among the recommendations, Trapani highlighted the importance of implementing “basic social public policies” that allow citizens to live with dignity, as well as special protection policies.
“Data, statistics, records that allow us to identify the magnitude and scope of this specific problem. An institutional strengthening, a protection system that protects and that is not only activated for attention, but also avoids violation”, she pointed out.
The investigation exposes that the “Venezuelan State has not addressed in a comprehensive or sufficient manner the structural causes of the recruitment of children and adolescents by organized crime” and, in this sense, considers “it is urgent to correct the deficiencies of the protection system.”
In February, the president of the National Assembly with a Chavista majority, Jorge Rodríguez, assured that leaders of dismantled criminal groups, through an NGO registered in Colombia, recruited young people and received weapons from the government of President Iván Duque and members of the Venezuelan opposition.
In 2013, sectors of the government promoted the so-called “Peace Zones”, a program that cleared certain areas of the presence of police and/or military officials in the exercise of their functions, which, according to experts, ended up “fostering and strengthening” the gangs. criminals.
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