Published at: 24/09/2025 09:00 PM

(EL NACIONAL and 2001, SEPTEMBER 20, 1984)

• 41 years ago, on September 19, 1984, “The Bowl Massacre” took place. The press fell short when they reported 16 injured, in fact more than 35 were shot by National Guard (GN) personnel at the Tazón toll booth.
• The number of injured, near the toll booth located at the Hoyo de la Puerta checkpoint, caused the Car Hospital and the University Clinical Hospital to collapse for three days.
• 43 students were admitted as a matter of emergency, among the more than 200 who were traveling to Caracas, who were surprised by the violent action of the military personnel. Although there were no deaths, some of those shot were injured for life or in wheelchairs.
• The more than 200 university students came from Maracay, Edo. Aragua, on four buses from the Faculty of Veterinary and Agronomy of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), with the purpose of joining a protest against the elimination of student benefits that had been repealed by the government of Jaime Lusinchi.
• The Confederation of University Student Centers came to the defense of the victims and to this end called for a general demonstration.
• That night, the UCV was the scene of a close shooting where Metropolitan Police (PM) officials attacked the students with bullets, tear gas bombs and cartridges poisoned with nuts and bolts.
• This resulted in a student being killed by police in the Plaza de Las Tres Graces. This is the 27-year-old Douglas Armando Blanco, who was admitted to the Emergency Car Hospital without vital signs. His name does not appear in the statistical records of those executed by the police in the Fourth Republic.
• Octavio Lepage, in the saga Minister of Internal Relations, justified the excessive use of law enforcement by stating that the buses had been strafed on his orders, because the students had kidnapped them. A confession on the part...
• What happened 41 years ago directly involves then-president Jaime Lusinchi and his minister Lepage.
• The same minister who, on July 26, 1976, declared that Jorge Rodríguez (father) died a natural death in a cell of the General Sectorial Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention (DISIP).
• The same one who was identified as the mastermind behind the murder of nine students in The Yumare Massacre (08-05-1986).

Mazo News Team