Published at: 26/06/2024 09:00 PM

The defense rejected the charges made.

(El Nacional, 29, 1962)

• Just 27 days before El Porteñazo, in a very brief trial whose procedural speed surprised all jurists in Venezuela, the 57 prosecuted for the civic-military uprising were convicted. In this way, all legal lapses were violated, without allowing time to evacuate evidence or duly substantiate the files.
• Due Process, a fundamental rule that guarantees impartiality and the full development of justice to prevent the violation of the right of the accused, was ignored by the magistrates, without exception.
• Thus, not only was all legal argument dismantled and the right to defense violated, but reliable evidence was hidden about the massacres committed by the government in the La Alcantarillla sector and the shootings carried out, without a trial, of hundreds of students and soldiers inside the Miguel Pena High School in Puerto Cabello.
• Romulo Betancourt's order was: “Speedy trial and maximum penalty”. Thus, the defendants were isolated, incommunicado and incessantly subjected to all kinds of threats and `psychological' torture, to prevent the trial from taking place within the time limits established by the Code of Military Procedure and to hide the truth.
• On the day of the indictments, Digepol agents arrived at the cells, handcuffed the 57 detainees and kept them sleeping face down against the ground for three days.
• Digepol agents raided the headquarters of the Accidental Military Court and remained inside the courtroom intimidating the defendants.
• Only Corvette Captain Víctor Hugo Morales was given the right to speak, who, among other things, openly denounced the mechanisms of violence that the government had imposed in every corner of Venezuela, far exceeding what had been experienced in times of dictatorship.
• That day, the arrest warrants were issued for the soldiers and civilians who had participated in the movement, on June 2 in Puerto Cabello. Here's the list:
• Military: Cap. Nav. Manuel Ponte Rodriguez, Chief FGTA. Pedro Medina Silva, Cap. Cta. Victor Hugo Morales Monasteries, Cap. Cta. Miguel Henrique Ledezma, Cap. Cta. Luis Francisco Avilan Montiel, Lt. FGTA. Jose Florencio Ramos Melendez, Lt. FGTA. Carlos Fermin Castillo, Lt. FGTA. Antonio Piccardo Roán, Lt. FGTA. Pastor Pausides Gonzalez, Lt. FGTA. Wallis Medina Rojas, Alf. Nav. Andres Leal Romero, Alf. Nav. Ottoniel Piccardo Roman. Alf. Nav. Jaime Penso Nebrus, Alf. Nav. Rafael Sierra Acosta, Master of First Rafael Simón Camacaro Cuicas, Master of First Luis Armando Martínez, Master of First Jesús Poyert, Master of First (a) Luis Gregorio Guerrero Chávez, Master of Second Manuel Vallejo Córdova, Master of Second Luis Jiménez Ardian and Master of Second Teófilo Santaella.
• Civilians: Juan Fernando Ravelo, Efraín Blanco, Máximo Santiago Maduro, Miguel Angel Reyes Romero, Pablo López, Raúl Cordero, Gerardo Tovar, Felix Gil Moreno, Oscar Eduardo Sánchez, Antonio Ramón Garcia, Francisco Alberto Caricote Agreda, Antonio Guevara Jiménez, Carlos Richardi, Marcial José Blanco Graciani, Miguel Véliz Montero, Enrique A. Gauthier, Oswaldo Rojas La Roche, Dr. German Lairet, José Fabio Urbina, Gastón Alvaro Carvallo López de Ceballos, José López de Ceballos, José López de Ceballos, José López Tromón Jada Gonzalez, Julio Alberto Moras, Rafael Gutierrez Rivero, Boris Domínguez Medina, Julio Valero Roa, Julio Domingo Blanco González, Oscar Carreño, Servando Garcés Fergursson, Juan de Mata Padrón Bolívar, Enrique Rivas Romero, José Reyes Puertas Cañizales and Andrés Eloy Blanco Graciani.

Mazo News Team