Key developments since May 2004: Venezuela submitted its first
Article 7 report in two years, which provided additional details on stockpile
destruction and revised previous information on mines laid by Venezuela in the
past. Venezuela joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended
Protocol II on 19 April 2005. In July 2005, Venezuela set out a timetable for
clearance, before its Article 5 deadline, of antipersonnel mines around six Navy
posts. As of August 2005, mine clearance operations had not started.
Mine Ban Policy
Venezuela signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 14
April 1999, and the treaty entered into force on 1 October 1999. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs does not consider domestic legislation to implement the Mine
Ban Treaty as necessary because international treaties ratified by the
government automatically become national
law.[1 ]Neither the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs nor the Armed Forces have proposed to the National Assembly that
penal sanctions be enacted specifically for antipersonnel
mines.[2 ]Venezuela’s penal
code was reformed on 16 March 2005, without any reference made to antipersonnel
landmines.[3]
Venezuela submitted its third Article 7 report on 4 July
2005.[4 ]It does not indicate the
reporting period, does not cover all the information required by Article 7, and
does not utilize the standard forms.[5 ]The report is the first update since May 2003.
Venezuela attended the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in
November-December 2004 in Nairobi, where it made a statement to the high level
segment. Venezuela also participated in the intersessional meetings in June
2005 in Geneva, where it made a statement asking that Landmine Monitor correct
its information that Venezuela laid antipersonnel mines after signing the Mine
Ban Treaty (see below).
Venezuela has not engaged in the extensive discussions that States Parties
have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1,
2 and 3. Thus, it has not made known its views on the issues of joint military
operations with non-States Parties, foreign stockpiling and transit of
antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling
devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.
Venezuela joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons and Amended Protocol
II on landmines on 19 April 2005. It did not attend the Sixth Annual Conference
of States Parties to Amended Protocol II on 17 November 2004.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Destruction
Venezuela reports that it has not produced antipersonnel
mines.[6 ]The country is not known to
have exported antipersonnel mines. While the media has continued to report
instances of weapons trafficking between Colombia and Venezuela, Landmine
Monitor has not found any evidence of antipersonnel mine transfers. Information
in Venezuela’s Article 7 reports indicates that in the past Venezuela
obtained antipersonnel landmines from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United States
and the former Yugoslavia.[7]
On 25 November 2003, Venezuela reported to the United Nations
Secretary-General that it completed destruction of its stockpile of 47,189
antipersonnel mines on 24 September 2003, days ahead of the country’s
four-year deadline of 1 October
2003.[8 ]
Venezuela provided new information on its stockpile destruction in the July
2005 Article 7 report. On 13 May 2003, 35,360 stockpiled mines were destroyed
in the North Central Arsenal (Polvorines Centro Norte); on 15 July 2003, 587
mines were destroyed in the Southern Region Arsenal (Polvorines Región
Sur); on 18 July 2003, 3,385 mines were destroyed in the Zulia State Arsenal
(Polvorines Estado Zulia); on 10 September 2003, 4,451 mines were destroyed in
the West Central Regional Arsenal (Polvorines Región Centro Occidente);
on 24 September 2003, 3,406 mines were destroyed in the South West Regional
Arsenal (Polvorines Región Sur Occidental). The types of antipersonnel
mines destroyed were not
indicated.[9]
Despite several requests, Landmine Monitor was not invited to witness any of
the stockpile destruction events and it appears that there were no media or
other observers in attendance. Venezuela apparently did not inform States
Parties at the time that it had met its treaty
obligation.[10 ]
Mines Retained for Training
In its July 2005 Article 7 report, Venezuela indicated that 4,960
antipersonnel mines were retained for training and development
purposes.[11 ]Of the total, 4,950
mines are retained in the Armament Directorate of the National Armed Forces
(Dirección de Armamento de la Fuerza Armada Nacional, DARFA), and 10
mines are located at the Attorney’s Office Number 8 in Puerto Cabello,
Carabobo state, for presumed theft [presunto delito de hurto]. No additional
information on the theft of the mines is included in the
report.[12 ]
Venezuela has not yet reported in any detail on the intended purposes and
actual uses of its retained mines―a step agreed to by States Parties in
the Nairobi Action Plan that emerged from the First Review Conference.
In November 2003, when Venezuela reported completion of stockpile
destruction, it stated that 5,000 antipersonnel mines would be retained for
training.[13 ]Subsequently, in
August 2004, a Foreign Ministry representative said a total of 4,960
antipersonnel mines remained, of which 3,960 mines were due to be destroyed by
October 2004 at El Pao in Cojedes state, and 1,000 were to be retained for
training.[14 ]In December 2004,
Landmine Monitor was informed that the destruction of the mines had not taken
place.[15 ]In June 2005, the
Venezuelan representative to the intersessional Standing Committee meetings
confirmed no destruction had taken place and that all 4,960 antipersonnel mines
would be kept for training.[16]
Use
In its July 2005 Article 7 report, Venezuela reported on 1,073 antipersonnel
mines it laid around six Navy posts between April 1995 and March 1997. This
revised the number (1,036) and some dates of emplacement as recorded in previous
Article 7 reports. Most notably, Venezuela reported that 57 SB-33 antipersonnel
mines were laid at PNGUA (Guafitas) in March 1997 instead of May
1998.[17 ]Landmine Monitor had
pointed out that the May 1998 date meant Venezuela used antipersonnel mines some
five months after it signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997.[18 ]Previous Landmine Monitor
Reports have provided extensive details on these
minefields.[19 ]
Colombian non-state armed groups are active in Venezuela’s border
region, but Landmine Monitor did not receive any allegations of use of
antipersonnel mines in 2004 or 2005 by them, or by peasants or landowners in
this area. In May 2005, Landmine Monitor visited the community of San
Juaquín de Navay in Libertador municipality, Táchira state, where
the media had reported in December 2001 that guerrillas belonging to a Colombian
group called the Latin American Popular Army (Ejército Popular
Latinoamericano, EPLA) were using “explosive mines” around their
camps in Venezuelan territory.[20 ]A local authority (Prefecto), as well as the commander of the local Army
post and a teacher, confirmed the incident in 2001, which occurred in Los Monos
sector in the rural area of the municipality. They also said that since then no
new incidents involving antipersonnel mines had
occurred.[21]
Landmine Problem
The mine problem in Venezuela results from 1,074 antipersonnel mines laid by
government forces around six naval posts along the border with Colombia
(Atabapo, Cararabo, Guafitas, Isla Vapor, Puerto Páez and Río
Arauca Internacional).
In June 2005, Venezuela reported that there were 1,073 landmines remaining
to be cleared, due to the accidental detonation of one mine at
Guafitas.[22 ]An investigation of
this incident concluded that the post commander did not have maps of the
minefields, and that “there are mined areas outside the zone that is
fenced.”[23 ]
Mine Action
The Mine Ban Treaty requires that Venezuela destroy all antipersonnel mines
in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, and no
later than 1 October 2009.
On 19 August 2004, a Ministry of Defense resolution assigned a naval officer
as General Coordinator of mine clearance operations and
training.[24 ]In July 2005,
Venezuela for the first time provided a timetable for clearance of the
antipersonnel mines laid around the Navy posts. The mines around Guafitas Navy
post are to be cleared in February 2007; Puerto Páez Navy post in April
2007; Atabapo Navy post in February 2008; Isla Vapor Navy post in April 2008;
Arauca River International Navy post in February 2009; Cararabo Navy post in
April 2009. Venezuela also revised previously reported dates on which mines
were laid in three of the
posts.[25]
Venezuela had planned to begin mine clearance operations in February
2002.[26 ]As of August 2005,
clearance operations had not started. In April 2005, a military official told
Landmine Monitor that Venezuela would not clear the minefields until another
protection system for the Navy posts could be established, such as an early
alarm system that did not include weapons or
explosives.[27 ]
Landmine/UXO Casualties and Survivor Assistance
On 6 September 2004, a 19-year-old marine serving at the Guafitas Navy post
stepped on a mine, while clearing bush in an unmarked minefield. The marine was
transferred by helicopter to the Military Hospital in San Cristóbal
(Táchira state). Two weeks later he was transferred to the Military
Hospital in Caracas where his leg was amputated above the knee. The Armed
Forces continued to pay the marine a salary, provided him with a prosthesis, and
transported him daily to physical and psychological rehabilitation at the
Military Hospital of Vargas state.[28 ]In September 2005, the marine’s family told Landmine Monitor that
the military was no longer providing transport to rehabilitative services or a
salary, and his status within the military was not
known.[29]
Venezuela has acknowledged one other marine mine survivor. There are no
known civilian landmine survivors in
Venezuela.[30]
One incident involving unexploded ordnance was reported by the media in
2004. On 26 February, a 32-year-old man and his two children, aged seven and
five, were killed and another man injured after stepping on a buried
fragmentation grenade that exploded. The incident occurred near the Infantry
battalion Rivas Dávila No. 222, in Félix Sánchez
Cánsales municipality, Trujillo
state.[31 ]
Venezuela has a national health system with specialized services located in
main urban centers, including rehabilitation services.
[1 ]Telephone interview with Victor
Manzanares, First Secretary, Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Caracas, 4 February 2000.
[2 ]Interview with Farida
Yamín, First Secretary, Directorate of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and Admiral Alcibíades Jesús Paz, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Caracas, 20 August 2004.
[3]Partial Reform to the Penal
Code, Official Gazette, Number 38.148, 16 March 2005.
[4 ]Previous reports were submitted
on 10 September 2002 and 15 May 2003.
[5 ]It is a three-page document
containing five tables (numbers 1, 2, 8, 3 and 4).
[6 ]Article 7 Report, Form H, 15
May 2003. In the past the US Department of Defense identified Venezuela as the
producer of the MV-1 improvised fragmentation antipersonnel mine. In January
2002, Brigadier General José Esteban Godoy Peña told Landmine
Monitor that Venezuela had not produced mines, and explained the MV-1 was a mine
used by guerrillas in the 1960s, known as trampas caza bobos
(“fool-catcher booby traps”).
[7]Article 7 Report, Form B, 15
May 2003.
[8 ]Letter from the Permanent
Mission of Venezuela in Geneva to the UN Disarmament Conference Secretariat, 25
November 2003. In September 2002, Venezuela reported a stockpile of 22,136
antipersonnel mines, but in May 2003 reported a revised total of 46,135
antipersonnel mines. Article 7 Report, Form B, 15 May 2003; Article 7 Report,
Form B, 10 September 2002. Regarding the difference of 6,054 mines between the
number reported in the May 2003 Article 7 report and the number provided to the
Secretary-General, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there were errors
in information previously provided. Interview with Farida Yamín,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with Adm. Alcibíades Jesús Paz,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Caracas, 20 August 2004.
[9]Article 7 Report, Table 1,
“Minas destruidas que se encontraban almacenadas,” 4 July 2005.
This same information was provided to Landmine Monitor in an email from Yaneth
Arocha, First Secretary, Office of the Vice Minister for North America, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, 28 June 2005.
[10 ]The ICBL and a number of
States Parties had attempted to get confirmation from Venezuela both before and
after the 1 October 2003 deadline that Venezuela had met its obligation, but
received no response.
[11 ]Article 7 Report, Table 3,
“Situación actual de las minas AP,” 4 July 2005.
[12 ]Article 7 Report, note
attached to Table 1, “Minas destruidas que se encontraban
almacenadas,” and Table 8, “Situación actual de las minas
AP,” 4 July 2005.
[13 ]Letter from the Permanent
Mission of Venezuela in Geneva to the UN Disarmament Conference Secretariat, 25
November 2003.
[14 ]Interview with Farida
Yamín and Adm. Alcibíades Paz, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 20
August 2004.
[15 ]Interview with military
official who requested anonymity, 3 December 2004.
[16]Landmine Monitor (MAC)
interview with Adm. Alcibíades Paz, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva,
16 June 2005.
[17 ]Article 7 Report, Table 2,
“Cuadro de sembrado actual de minas AP,” 4 July 2005.
[18 ]Venezuela’s May 2003
report indicated it laid 20 SB-33 antipersonnel mines in Guafitas in May 1998.
Its September 2002 report indicated the number was 58 SB-33 mines. See Article
7 Report, Form C, 15 May 2003 and Article 7 Report, Form C, 10 September 2002.
[19 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, pp. 861-863.
[20 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2002, p. 520. The local authority told Landmine Monitor that
according to media at that time, EPLA was a dissident group of the Colombian
National Liberation Army (ELN, Ejército de Liberación Nacional).
Telephone interview with Antonio Molina, Prefecto, San Juaquín de Navay,
24 May 2005.
[21]Interviews with Lt.
Pérez, Commander, San Juaquín de Navay Army Post, and Daniel
Molina, Teacher, San Juaquín de Navay, 22 May 2005; telephone interview
with Antonio Molina, Prefecto, San Juaquín de Navay, 24 May 2005.
[22 ]Email from Yaneth Arocha,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 June 2005. The number 1,073 is also cited in
Article 7 Report, Table 2, “Cuadro de sembrado actual de minas AP,”
4 July 2005.
[23 ]Defensoría del
Pueblo, “Informe Annual (Annual Report) 2004,” Caracas, 2005,
www.defensoria.gov.ve.
[24 ]“Se designa al
Contralmirante Alcibíades Jesús Paz, Coordinador General de los
Cursos y Trabajos de Desminados de acuerdo a la Convención sobre la
prohibición del empleo, almacenamiento, producción y transferencia
de Minas Antipersonal y sobre su destrucción,” Official
Gazette, Number 38.004, 19 August 2004.
[25]Article 7 Report, Table 4,
“Cronograma de destrucción de campos minados,” 4 July
2005.
[26 ]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2003, p. 863.
[27 ]Interview with military
official who requested anonymity, 20 April 2005.
[28 ]Interview with Rimy Diego
Amundarain Salazar, and his mother Rosalba del Valle Salazar, Barrio Montesano
(vicinity of Caracas), Vargas state, 27 May 2005.
[29]Telephone interview with
Rosalba del Valle Salazar, 24 September 2005.
[30]See Landmine Monitor
Report 2004, p. 864.
[31 ]D’Yahana M. De
Bastidas, “Dos niños y su papá murieron al pisar
granada” Últimas Noticias, 26 February 2004, p. 16.