A group of Venezuelan women caught local police officers pillaging the rubble of a collapsed building in the state of La Guaira and attempting to steal a box with U.S. dollars in it, the Venezuelan outlet El Pitazo reported on Tuesday.
The women, outraged at the actions of the police, tore apart the money to prevent the officers from stealing it. Four police officers were reportedly fired and arrested over their involvement in the incident.
El Pitazo explained that the women are relatives of missing people and survivors of the devastating magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck Venezuela in the evening hours of June 24. The incident occurred on Tuesday at the ruins of the Vallarta, one of the over 180 buildings that completely collapsed in Venezuela as a result of last week’s deadly earthquakes. The building was located at the municipality of Urimare, in the state of La Guaira, the region most devastated by the earthquakes.
According to testimonies given by the witnesses to El Pitazo, members of Venezuela’s Scientific, Penal, and Criminalistic Investigation Service Corps (CICPC) approached the ruins of the building while search and rescue operations were taking place. The group of women alleged that the agents were “inspecting specific zones of the building presumptively in search of a box with money.”
Upon becoming aware of the situation, the outlet explained, the group of women and other individuals confronted the police and demanded they hand over the box with dollars. Footage of the incident published by El Pitazo on social media shows the women yelling at the officer holding the blue box. The civilians are heard yelling lambucio at the officer — a slang term used to accuse a dishonest person engaging in greed or gluttony. One of the women is seen tearing the found dollars amid shouting.
“They came here and knew there was money. I don’t know if they were sent here or if they’re acting on their own, but it can’t be right that, in the midst of our dead, the only thing on their minds is recovering material possessions,” Melisa Páez, one of the women who confronted the officers, told El Pitazo.
“We can’t label all government officials opportunists or criminals, but we must call out those who seek to profit from the misfortune of others,” she added. “Our family members are here. It’s disrespectful that they aren’t looking for survivors, but are coming here to look for money.”
Hours after the incident, El Pitazo reported that four CICPC officers identified as Aguilar Reyes Maya, Fredy Rafael Lugo Oliveros, Roger Andrés Omaña, and inspector Josue Jhonatan Burgos Sánchez were detained on Tuesday night for their participation in the incident. CICPC’s national director, Douglas Rico, reportedly said in a statement that it was found that the four officers, “deviating from their duties and taking advantage of the rescue and humanitarian aid efforts, acted in an unbecoming manner by appropriating valuables found in the rubble.”
Last week’s devastating earthquakes are described as the worst natural tragedy in the modern history of Venezuela, with search and rescue operations still ongoing as of July 1. At press time on Wednesday morning, authorities from Venezuela’s socialist regime have documented at least 1,943 dead, 10,571 injured, and at least 15,866 individuals displaced in shelters. According to the United Nations, it is estimated that as many as about 50,000 people are deemed missing as of Monday.
Tuesday’s incident at the ruins of the Vallarta apartment building in Umare marks the latest in a growing list of similar incidents. The Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional detailed on Tuesday night that among the complaints are reports of government officials and security forces “looting properties in some affected areas,” as well as complaints about alleged delays, disorganization, and “even actions that are said to have interfered with rescue efforts.”
El Nacional reported:
News reports and residents’ testimonies have described a complex situation in La Guaira, where citizens’ top priority remains the search for missing persons amid the rubble, while they face critical conditions, a shortage of resources, a lack of specialized personnel, and an atmosphere of growing tension in the areas hardest hit by the disaster.
Venezuelan citizens have reportedly denounced in the past days that local officials are allegedly extorting relatives of the victims with bribes in U.S. dollars to deliver a body or allow the passage of machinery to areas where rubble must be removed to retrieve bodies of the deceased. Venezuela, a country where the socialist regime once made it illegal to trade with foreign currencies, has experienced a de facto dollarization of its economy from the late 2010s onwards. The everyday use of cash U.S. dollars in Venezuela has helped offset the inflation caused by the socialist regime’s gross mismanagement of the nation’s economy and the collapse of the nation’s currency, the Venezuelan Bolívar.
The reports also indicated that Venezuelan authorities set up an area in the Port of La Guaira to collect human remains. Footage published by local journalists and outlets show images of bodies lying on the ground, most of which remain covered by a light tarp or blanket.
A shortage of body bags is one of the numerous difficulties faced by Venezuela since long before last week’s earthquakes, prompting the United Nations to send a shipment of 10,000 bags that is reportedly set to arrive over the next days. Similarly, local private entrepreneurs have donated thousands of body bags to local authorities to help offset the severe shortage.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.