Venezuelan authorities have closed roads in Caracas amid intense raging gun battles between security forces and organized crime gangs that analysts say are trying to expand the territory under their control in the capital.
By The Guardian
Jul 8, 2021
Heavily armed criminal groups have moved in the past month to residential and commercial areas from slums in the city’s hills, and violence has exploded over the past 24 hours with firefights breaking out in at least five populous neighborhoods.
“State security agencies continue to be deployed in the areas affected by these criminals,” the interior minister, Carmen Meléndez, wrote on Twitter.
She said some highways in the areas were closed as part of the operation, and urged members of the public to stay at home.
President Nicolás Maduro’s government has not mentioned any casualties as a result of the clashes. Human rights activists in the area have said at least four civilians were killed on Wednesday and half a dozen have been wounded.
The information ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since January, gangs from the Cota 905 barrio have been trying to expand their territory into nearby areas including La Vega.
“We haven’t been running the kitchens at full capacity since January because of the shootouts nearly every day,” said Amelia Flores, 58, who runs two soup kitchens, primarily for children, in the area. “I don’t what happened, but in the past 24 hours the situation has exploded and the kids are traumatized.”
The gangs want to control one of the main corridors linking the capital with the west of the country, said a human rights activist based in one of the affected neighborhoods.
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Read More: The Guardian – Venezuela: intense gun battles rage in Caracas between gangs and police
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