Published at: 23/10/2024 10:00 PM

(New Popular Voice, October 17, 1968, No. 24)

• On October 19, 1963, students Lídice Álvarez and Dora González died while protesting in front of Columbia Pictures, a company located in Plaza Venezuela.
• Both young women were trapped in a fire inside the facilities of that transnational American cinema company, in the Polar Tower.
• Regarding the death of Dora and Lídice, the General Manager of Columbia Pictures in Venezuela, Jack Jaster, stated: “I was in the Second World War and this action taken against Columbia is typical of communist commandos and in any country in the world it is punishable by death and if men are captured they are summarily tried and executed.”
• Lídice Álvarez and Dora González were high school students at the Fermín Toro High School, both of whom belonged to the Tactical Unit for Urban Youth Combat of the Communist Party of Venezuela.
• This student organization was organized to carry out demonstrations and propaganda activities against the repressive and surrendering policies of the Government of Rómulo Betancourt.

The Context:

• In 1963, student struggles predominated. However, the government intensified police and military operations.
• On the other hand, the actions carried out by the Tactical Combat Units (UTC), in the city of Caracas and the center of the country, were many. These include:
• The kidnapping of five paintings from the exhibition “One Hundred Years of French Painting”, in the month of January. Among the paintings was one by Vicent Van Gogh; they were kidnapped only for propaganda purposes and returned intact, without any proposal for a ransom.
• The kidnapping, on the high seas, of a ship belonging to the Venezuelan Anonymous Navigation Company. The ship Anzoátegui was abducted by Commander Máximo Canales (Paul del Rio) 70 nautical miles from the Port of La Guaira, in the month of February. Also for propaganda purposes, without a ransom fee.
• The assault on the house of the political advisor of the United States Embassy, Edward Thornon, in June.
• The takeover of the Los Teques Women's Prison and the rescue of three political prisoners in the month of July.
• The kidnapping of three Digepol agents in Sanare, edo. Lara, in the month of August.
• The kidnapping of Spanish-Argentinian soccer player Alfredo Di Stefano, considered to be a star of that sport, in the month of August. Abduction carried out only for propaganda purposes that culminated in the release of the detainee in perfect health and also without any request for ransom or exchange for the freedom of leftist political prisoners.
• The escape of political prisoners from Trujillo Prison, including Fabricio Ojeda, in September.
• The kidnapping of the Deputy Chief of the United States Army Mission, James Chennault, in the month of November.
• The escape of political prisoners from the Isla del Burro prison, in the month of December.
• All these actions made it clear that there was a powerful military capacity of left-wing groups (Credit: Elia Oliveros Espinoza — “The Social Struggle and the Armed Struggle in Venezuela”).

Mazo News Team