Venezuela denounces “mass murder” of migrants from its country in Colombia after the execution of two minors

The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, denounced this Tuesday the “mass murder” of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, after the “extrajudicial execution” of two adolescents aged 12 and 18 in a border region.

“This is not an isolated event, it is not an exceptional event, at least 1,933 Venezuelan migrants were murdered, and another 836 were reported missing”, between 2015 and 2020, he noted Saab in statements broadcast on government television.

AND “Between January and August of the year 2021 they were murdered in Colombia another 362 Venezuelans “, remarked Saab, based on reports from the NGO Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).

“The figure in a terrifying way can reach approximately 3,000 Venezuelans dead victims of hatred, of xenophobia”Saab sentenced, accusing the “mass murder of Venezuelans in Colombia.”

The United Nations and Colombian authorities are investigating the execution of the Venezuelan minors, who were shot after being accused of robbing a warehouse in the violent municipality of Tibú, in the northeast of the country.

In videos and photos disseminated on social networks, the teenagers are seen with their heads down and their hands tied forward with duct tape while an off-camera person accuses them of “thieves”.

Their bodies were later found and their hands were still tied.

A cardboard with the word “thieves”Written by hand rested on the body of the youngest, lying face down with a red backpack and identified by Venezuelan authorities as Alexander José Fernández Rodríguez.

“We believe that the perpetrators are as responsible as the subject who records the video, since he not only apologizes for the crime, but also delivers the children to death”, I observe Saab That the day before he sent a communication to his Colombian counterpart to ask for the facts to be clarified and those responsible arrested.

The Colombian police blame both crimes on the dissidents of the ex-guerrilla of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) that departed from the peace agreement signed in 2016.

Tibú It concentrates the largest amount of drug crops in Colombia with more than 19,000 hectares planted with coca leaves, according to the UN.

“They are crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Saab, who attributes the migratory wave to the consequences of financial sanctions from the United States to force the departure of President Nicolás Maduro.

According to the UN, more than five million Venezuelans have left their country, fleeing a serious crisis. Colombia has been the main place of reception, with 1.7 million migrants, more than half undocumented.

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