Document #1339928
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
In addition to the information provided in
Response to Information Request VEN0817 of 8 May 1989, please find
attached the documents listed below, which provide more recent
information on the Bandera Roja group.
References to Bandera Roja activities since
the previously mentioned Response was prepared could not be found
among the sources available to the DIRB until late-1992, when a
coup attempt nearly overthrew the government of Carlos
Andrés Pérez. A possible link between the Bolivariano
movement of rebel military officers that led the coup attempt and
the Bandera Roja has been speculated (Caretas 10 Feb. 1992,
21). One of the attached reports states that President Pérez
blamed Bandera Roja and the Bolivariano movement for a coup attempt
in November 1992 (AFP 27 Nov. 1992). Another attachment states that
the civilians implicated in the November 1992 coup attempt included
"university students from Red Flag," adding that "civilian-military
units" participated in the takeover of at least one television
station in Caracas and aired messages (The New York Times 6
Dec. 1992). According to one source, authorities arrested at least
250 civilians who supported the coup attempt and described them as
"subversives of the left" (Latin American Newsletters 17 Dec. 1992,
2).
A January 1993 article reports that Bandera
Roja is the most significant of three guerrilla groups that have
recently regrouped and are operating mostly in the states of
Carabobo and Anzoategui (Libération 26 Jan. 1993).
Bandera Roja is reportedly led by Gabriel Puerta Apunte and has a
force of approximately one hundred heavily armed men, their weapons
possibly obtained from insurgent military officers who attempted to
overthrow the government in November 1992 (Ibid.). Without
specifying which groups are responsible for which actions, the
report adds that two sources of income for the guerrillas are
hold-ups and racketeering (the article does not define what the
racketeering consists of) (Ibid.). Finally, the articles
states that the guerrillas (again, without specifying a group or
groups) may have agents in Caracas for carrying out terrorist
activities (attentats in the original French language text)
(Ibid.).
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
DIRB.
Agence France Presse (AFP). 27 November
1992. "Perez Says Attempted Coup Being Routed." (NEXIS)
Caretas [Lima]. 10 February 1992.
"Golpe Avisado."
Latin American Newsletters. 17 December
1992. Latin American Regional Reports: Andean Group Report.
"Pérez Survives Second Uprising." London: Latin American
Newsletters.
Libération [Paris]. 26
January 1993. "La guérilla
vénézuélienne reprend du service."
The New York Times. 6 December
1992. Late Edition-Final.James Brooke. "Coup Within the Coup Cut
the Toll in Venezuela." (NEXIS)
Agence France Presse (AFP). 27 November
1992. "Perez Says Attempted Coup Being Routed." (NEXIS)
Immigration and Refugee Board
Documentation Centre (IRBDC). 8 May 1989. Response to Information
Request VEN0817.
Latin American Newsletters. 17 December
1992. Latin American Regional Reports: Andean Group Report.
"Pérez Survives Second Uprising." London: Latin American
Newsletters.
Libération [Paris]. 26
January 1993. "La guérilla
vénézuélienne reprend du service."
The New York Times. 6 December
1992. Late Edition-Final.James Brooke. "Coup Within the Coup Cut
the Toll in Venezuela." (NEXIS)