Published at: 02/04/2025 08:00 PM

(New Popular Voice, February 25, 1969 - No. 35)

• At 8:15 p.m., on March 28, 1967, José Agustín Petit Colina, 29, was arrested along with his friend José Amaro, while they were working on a corn pile he had in his house, located on 17th Street, between Carreras 1 and 2 in Pueblo Nuevo, Barquisimeto, Lara State. To this day, he is still missing.
• Four heavily armed officers of the ARMED FORCES INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIFA) arrived at the site in a jeep, who identified themselves as such and after searching the place they were taken into custody. Later, while the vehicle was still moving, José Amaro was thrown in the middle of the road, under threats of stopping him again if he turned around to see the vehicle fleeing.
• Because of the persistent complaints made by his mother, Sixta Colina, to President Raúl Leoni, the then Attorney General of the Republic, Antonio José Losada, sent them a communication dated May 23, 1967, in which she reported: “Regarding the arrest of your son, it was carried out by 4 SIFA officials on 17-3-67 in Pueblo Nuevo because he was requested by an alleged collaborator and contact of armed groups operating in the Yaracuy State”. Later, Losada made every possible attempt to strip the mother of the office that she initially gave her, arguing that the missing person had been kidnapped by members of the Communist Party.
• Sixta del Carmen Colina de Petit died at 97 and spent half her life searching for her son José Agustín. During the search, together with his widow and family members, he visited almost all the jails and guerrilla camps in the country, and all his efforts to find him were unsuccessful.
• He also went to the offices of the first lady of the republic, Menca de Leoni, asking for her support. Menca, carelessly, only had the courtesy of sending him a private secretary to get out of the way.
• José Agustín “Tin” was the fourth member of the Petit family to be assassinated by the State Security Corps in the 1960s.
• A day earlier, on March 27, 1967, Leonel Petit Vásquez, his first cousin, was arrested and shot in Apartaderos, edo. Cojedes.
• His cousin Edmundo Hernández was murdered in “The Victory Massacre”, on June 3, 1972, and the latter's wife, Dilia Rojas, was shot down in “The Yumare Massacre”, on May 8, 1986.
• Following the kidnapping of José Agustín, the weekly newspaper Nueva Voz Popular publicly called on President Leoni to also give reason about other missing persons: Donato Carmona, Víctor Ramón Soto Rojas, the brothers Alberto and Salvador Pasquier, Alejandro Tejero, Navarro Laurens, César Burguillos and an extensive list of missing persons. The only one that was obtained as a response from the Head of State was official silence.
• José Agustín Petit Colina “Tin” was born in Bariquí, edo. Falcón, on August 26, 1936, was the brother of Amado Petit Colina and the first cousin of Mario Petit Vásquez. His parents were Sixta Colina and Amado Petit.
• Following the example of his first cousin Mario Petit Vásquez, shot by the government in March 1962, and his brother Amado Antonio Petit Colina, who was also under arms on May 16 of that same year, he dedicated himself to organizing the fronts of struggle between the peasant communities of the Aroa valleys, becoming a regional leader of the PCV.
• The guerrilla detachments had in José Agustín a bold courier and supplier of supplies, moving swiftly between enemy lines.
• By the time the José Leonardo Chirinos Column was heading to Los Andes, José Agustín and his team of collaborators were carrying out supply and logistics tasks. More than 50 guerrilla fighters were supplied with food, boots and uniforms.
• It is presumed that his remains rest, along with other comrades in the Manzanita area, where the army had an outpost, like the “Tent of Truth” at the entrance of which hung a sign that read: “if you don't give away, you're a dead man”.
• Other information points to more precise data, always in the Manzanita sector, where it is presumed that his remains were buried in a “Quebrada al Este de Sabana de Parra”, edo. Yaracuy.
• From a very young age, José Agustín formed a home with Delia Lugo, from whose union six children were born.

Mazo News Team