Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Seven officers from the Lara state police force and two members of the National Guard (GN) are being held in custody in connection with the multiple murders of six people found dead in an isolated area called Chabasquen in Portuguesa state. Confirmation of the arrests came from Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami, who's under the gun to produce quick results in the investigation of a case that's hit the headlines even in a country all too well accustomed to senseless violence.
The reasons are not hard to find. Five of the victims were adolescents. The bodies were found in or near a ditch with their hands tied behind their backs. And not least of all, the discovery of their bodies quickly sparked allegations that up to 11 law enforcement officers from several different forces were involved.
El Aissami did not name the suspects, but said that the officers had been suspended from duty. In the circumstances, it would have been difficult to imagine them still doing the rounds. The minister said the officers would be held while it was established what part, if any, they might have played in what has quickly come to be known as the Chabasquen Massacre, and which is said to have been preceded by a wholesale kidnapping.
The investigation is being carried out by the scientific and investigative police, Cicpc. At least one of the suspects is said to belong to Cicpc.
The case has set alight anew the public's concern about police lawlessness, and suspicions that rogue officers all too readily take the law into their own hands, indiscriminately killing ordinary citizens who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as well as suspects and known criminals. A group representing relatives of people who've been killed or abused by the police is calling on the government to assume direct control of the Lara state police.
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