Two criminal organizations extort money from agro-producers in the Pedro Zaraza municipality, eastern Guárico state, according to witnesses.
One of the gangs is called El Pepón, the alias of its founder Yohanny Machuca. While the other group is the Tren del Llano, founded by Gilberto Malony, who was shot down in November of last year in the town of San Juan de Unare (Sucre). The other members of this group continue to act in criminal acts, according to investigations.
Members of both groups set up their cells in the rural area of the Pedro Zaraza municipality where they demand a fortnightly fee in dollars from the more than 500 agricultural producers in the area to “spare their lives and let them work,” according to the words of a witness.
In recent days, both groups have clashed with gunfire around the La Becerra reservoir, leaving four dead, according to unofficial figures.
The clashes take place in the Los Guatacaros hamlet, where they actually imposed a curfew. “Nobody gets in, nobody goes out; whoever wants to travel to Zaraza or Santa María de Ipire to buy food and supplies has to ask the pranato for permission”, commented a witness.
The situation of violence has disturbed the work of other villages located on the rural roads that connect Zaraza with Santa María de Ipire: Chaguaramal de Mayorga, Masaguaro, Agua Negra and Limoncito, among others.
Residents of Zaraza have observed subjects carrying long weapons hanging around shops in the aforementioned municipality of Guariqueño.
