0800-Extortion

the call took the entrepreneur by surprise. On the other side of the line, a man who identified himself as Valentín Santana, leader of the Tupamaro collective, revealed that people close to him had offered three billions of bolivars to attempt against his life or that of a member of his family.

Until last week, Santiago (name changed) remained outside the political issues of the country. These matters simply did not interest him. His energy was going in the management of a store in western Caracas. If he had been aware of the news, he probably would have immediately caught the lie of his interlocutors: Santana has nothing to do with the Tupamaros. On the contrary, on some occasions his group arrived at the armed confrontation with those of the red and black star, due to the domination of sectors of January 23.

"My men want to take those three billions that are paying us to split your face to lead," the man said. The "contract", he added, had not executed it because, after more than a month of monitoring his family and his business, he realized that Santiago is a "serious person".

The interlocutor continued with his libretto for more than fifteen minutes. Sometimes, he seemed to recite it. Before, in this type of calls they demanded payments through transfers to private accounts. Even when the bolivar had some value, they asked that the money be delivered in cash at a predetermined place.

But the one who called Santiago said he was a member of an armed group: "We are the extermination groups, which eliminate and disappear the common underworld." This mentioned Valentine claimed to exercise "dominion" over 90% of the Caracas territory.

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So, to save the forms, now the payments could not be to swell the finances of some individual. Then, they demand monetary support for a supposedly beneficial work. In this case, for a hospital in which they try to take care of the case of an evicted girl.

First, they asked for a billion bolivars. But Santiago, an entrepreneur at last, knew how to negotiate, despite the haste with which the transfer was demanded by the supposed boss of the collective. At the last contact, the figure had dropped to 50 million bolivars.

Venezuela seems to be immersed in a new wave of telephone extortion. For the writing of these lines, it was possible to know directly of four cases. In all, the discourses had factors in common. In the first place, the extortionists claimed to be members of a powerful armed group. Sometimes, a collective, and on other occasions, a megaband like the Tren de Aragua. Then, in the telephone extortion they continue demanding payments in bolivars, by bank transfer. The extortionist also wants to see the money as soon as possible. But he takes care to affirm that it is a vaccine. The new thing in this is that they call it "collaboration", for a seemingly just cause.

In return, said the leader of the collective in his conversation with Santiago "I collaborate with you, safeguarding your security."

Victims rarely go to the police to report this type of extortion. When they do, the authorities take special note of the allegations, and generally do not incorporate them into official statistics. With this practice, they prevent crime figures from skyrocketing.

According to the Public Ministry, during the first half of 2018 the Unit against Extortion and Kidnapping has initiated 605 cases. Of them, 501 have been for extortion.

In Internal Relations they handle other statistics. The figures, known unofficially, indicate that Cicpc initiated 244 inquiries for extortion. The interesting thing about this is that, despite the efforts to keep them as low as possible, the increase in extortion complaints during the semester has been 41%.

When the victims go to the National Command against Extortion and Kidnapping of the National Guard, the military tells them that they should not worry, that currently most of these calls attributed to groups or armed gangs are actually made by idle criminals in the prisons of Puente Ayala (Anzoátegui) and El Dorado (Bolívar)

But the former head of the Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Division of the judicial police, retired commissar Sergio González, believes that these criminals now work in groups.

"Extortion calls are made from jails. But there are people on the streets who help them, "he said.

These subjects who are at liberty often contribute to a veneer of credibility to the threats. For example, Gonzalez explained, from the prison they can call to warn that the gang's surveillance group is in front of the victim's personal home, in a white van. And, indeed, it is later verified that the vehicle was in the indicated place.

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The important thing, according to the former police officer, is "not to fall into blackmail." He said that these gangsters rarely reach their threats.

"To these individuals you have to stop the trot, from the beginning," he said.

The cheating of the prize
One of the tactics that extortionists are using to obtain information about their victims is to simulate calls from the coordination of a governmental program, such as My Well-Equipped Home or the Housing Mission.

The subjects say that the interlocutor has won a prize, such as a loan with enormous facilities, or access to a home. In the conversation, they ask the alleged beneficiary to tell them how many people live with him, as well as their telephone numbers in order to verify the information.

Then, users of such numbers are extorted.

"They called me, and I immediately told them that they were talking to a general commissar of Cicpc. They hung up right there, "González recalled.

Briefs

• On July 19, the director of the judicial police, Commissioner General Rico Rico, banned the heads of all offices of that body from disseminating information on resolved cases through social networks. The decision on the news to be disclosed will be issued by the official himself or in his absence by the deputy director, once the corresponding minutes have been processed through the Situation Room. With this order, the aforementioned body takes a new step in terms of the establishment of censorship.

• Last week, government spokesmen declared that during the first semester of 2018 there were 6561 homicides. This is a half truth. In the first place, homicides were not taken into account in detention centers, whether they were detentions or judicial internees. In those facilities there were 144 deaths, which are not reflected in the figure leaked to the media. Neither were cases taken into account because of alleged "resistances to authority". In that line, according to figures known unofficially, 2983 deaths have occurred. These cases should be investigated as homicides, in which eventually the prosecutor may determine that there were circumstances that merit an exemption from criminal liability for police or military officials, by virtue of having verified the existence of conditions for self-defense or third parties . The grand total would be 9597 homicides for the first half of 2018, and not 6581.

• The landslide continues in the military ranks. On July 19, the general commander of the Army, Major General Jesús Suárez Chourio, ordered the dismissal of 277 troops. Most of the expelled are first or second sergeants, who would not have more than five years of career in the arms race. But there are also sergeants majors of third, that could have eight or more years in the military ranks. This decision was taken because the military referrals were absent from the barracks unjustifiably. Then, they are desertions that are not processed as such before the military courts, which are currently very busy with the prosecution of political dissidence. If all deserters were prosecuted, military justice would collapse. A similar situation occurs in the National Guard. Hence the insistence of the military hierarchy in exalting the benefits of the military career. In a ceremony held in Maracay, the head of the Ceofanb, Admiral in chief Remigio Ceballos stressed that during the era of Chavism-Madurism the members of the FAN have received benefits as never before, in terms of housing, vehicles and credits for young officers . The facts, however, seem to indicate that barracks inside are not very convinced.