Massacre of El Amparo
Encyclopedia
The Massacre of El Amparo was a massacre of 14 fishermen which took place near the village of El Amparo, in Venezuela
's western state of Apure
, on 29 October 1988. A joint military-police unit claimed the fishermen (who had no police records and were not known to either Venezuelan or Colombian military intelligence) were a group of guerillas who attacked them with guns and grenades, with an alleged 15–20 minute exchange of gunfire occurring at a range of 20–30m. No injuries were sustained by the unit, and an informant from the unit told investigators that the arms that were found amongst the bodies of the fishermen had been planted. An autopsy performed by Colombian officials on a Venezuelan victim found that he had been shot in the back, his skull crushed by heavy blows, and his face disfigured by acid. A month later further autopsies were performed by Venezuelan officials, with similar findings; the report was suppressed, but witnesses reported the results.
A case taken to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
(IACHR) concluded in 1996, with the IACHR ordering Venezuela to pay over $700,000 in reparations to next of kin and surviving victims.
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
's western state of Apure
Apure
Apure State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. Its territory formed part of the provinces of Mérida, Maracaibo, and Barinas, in accordance with successive territorial ordinations pronounced by the colonial authorities. In 1824 the Department of Apure was created, under...
, on 29 October 1988. A joint military-police unit claimed the fishermen (who had no police records and were not known to either Venezuelan or Colombian military intelligence) were a group of guerillas who attacked them with guns and grenades, with an alleged 15–20 minute exchange of gunfire occurring at a range of 20–30m. No injuries were sustained by the unit, and an informant from the unit told investigators that the arms that were found amongst the bodies of the fishermen had been planted. An autopsy performed by Colombian officials on a Venezuelan victim found that he had been shot in the back, his skull crushed by heavy blows, and his face disfigured by acid. A month later further autopsies were performed by Venezuelan officials, with similar findings; the report was suppressed, but witnesses reported the results.
A case taken to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
(IACHR) concluded in 1996, with the IACHR ordering Venezuela to pay over $700,000 in reparations to next of kin and surviving victims.