Published at: 18/09/2024 10:00 PM

(EL NACIONAL and CLARÍN, SEPTEMBER 17, 1962)

• The death of the 22-year-old university student Jesús Manuel Osuna occurred when he was leaving a movie function. He was approached by Digepol agents and shot in the head.
• At 1:30 in the morning, an anonymous call alerted the Technical Judicial Police (PTJ) that a body was lying near Puente República, in the East-2 corner of the El Conde residential area, Puente República.
• Later it became known that Jesús Osuna was a member of the Youth of the Communist Party of Venezuela (JPCV) and that he was assassinated by a Digepol commission, commanded by the director of that repressive body, Atahualpa Montes.
• Eyewitnesses verified that the officers tried to place a revolver in the body's left hand, as an alibi to simulate suicide.
• They added that the university student was wanted by Digepol, as was the third-year engineering student Agustín Rodríguez Gabaldón, on charges of being guerrilla contacts** . **

THE CONTEXT:

In 1962**, ** Romulo Betancourt's shrapnel was vicious against members of the Communist Party, leaving a trail of more than 10,000 homes raided, 900 dead and 1,500 political prisoners. For this reason, Betancourt inaugurated El Hampoducto as one of his first government projects. In that September 1962, the following youth cadres of the PCV were also shot down by Digepol:

• Omar Ramones Prieto, who was backstabbed and kicked off in the Plaza Capuchinos on Avenida San Martín during a student demonstration. He was a prominent leader, who was imprisoned seven times before being assassinated. He left a widow and a son.
• José Manuel Rojas Figueroa was shot in Plaza Sucre de Catia.
• Manuel Cachutt was machine-gunned in Valle de La Pascua, edo. Guárico.
• To decongest the cells of the Military Intelligence Service (SIFA), located in the White Palace and the General Directorate of Police (Digepol), located in the Las Brisas building in Los Chaguaramos, El Hampoducto was put into operation. These were the concentration camps in the Guiana jungles or Mobile Colonies of El Dorado and Isla del Burro in Lake Tacarigua (Valencia).

Mazo News Team