Published at: 29/05/2024 09:00 PM

• At the end of the government of Rómulo Betancourt, on May 24, 1963, national public opinion was shocked by the monstrous crime committed by the Venezuelan State security forces against the 20-year-old high school student, Claro Omar Rivero.
• The doctor and member of the National Congress, Jesús Yerena, sent a medical report to the media, stating that Claro Omar Rivero was subjected to torture for six days before being shot three times in the cervical region and a knife wound.
• Claro Omar's badly treated body showed rings of gunpowder in the bullet holes in the neck, meaning that the shots were fired at point-blank range. This contradicted official information.
• Deputy Jesús Yerena denied the government's official version, widely circulated in the press, according to which he was shot more than 130 meters away.
• The alibi of the then Minister of Internal Relations, Carlos Andrés Pérez, was implausible. According to which Claro Omar was surprised, red-handed, when, in the company of another leftist, he tried to place an explosive device in Shell's headquarters.
• The body of Claro Omar was thrown in the shoulder canal of the Eastern Highway in front of La Carlota Airport, more than 200 meters away from where police reports tried to conclude that the rifle had been fired.
• In reality, the 20-year-old high school student was imprisoned before being executed and subjected to several days of torture, on the alleged accusation of being a guerrilla cadre and a dangerous operator of the urban left.
• Another serious contradiction was the work of the PTJ inspector, Manuel Molina Gásperi, who asserted that Claro Omar was shot in the basement of the La Estancia Building, headquarters of Shell, for not obeying a loud voice. Forensic expertise showed that the deceased was shot three times in the back of the head with an entrance hole and no exit hole. So it is presumed that it was a low-powered handgun.
• Government agents had previously stolen a Volkswagen vehicle, inside which he was executed with three point-blank shots, leaving inside a large pool of blood and several bullet holes.
• This vehicle, license plates D21304, was stolen days earlier by police officers from engineer Raúl Von Praag, who learned of the events when he went to report the theft of his car to the PTJ.
• Finally, thanks to the interventions of deputies José Herrera Oropeza and Jesús Yerena, it was possible to determine that Claro Omar Rivero was subjected to intense interrogation using methods of extreme violence under the pretext of being a link mechanism (brokerage) with some left-wing groups.
• A tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush and his identity card were found in Claro Omar's pants pocket, which showed that he was being held at a judicial checkpoint and was being prepared for a possible transfer.
• At the time of the investigations, there was a war of cross-accusations between authorities of the Judicial Technical Police (PTJ) and the National Guard (GN), blaming each other for the horrendous crime.

Mazo News Team