Operation Tun Tun
Operation Tun Tun is the name coined by pro-government deputy Diosdado Cabello during the 2017 Venezuelan protests and repeated by pro-government media to describe the police raids of residences of Venezuelan opponents by security forces.
A report by Human Rights Watch and Foro Penal documented at least six instances in which Venezuelan security forces raided residential areas and apartments in Caracas and in four different states. In some of the raids, which tended to occur near barricades built by protesters, security forces entered homes without search warrants, stealing personal belongings and food, and both beating and arresting residents.[1]
Term
In the second hearing of the Organization of American States to analyze possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela, Major General Hebert García Plaza described Operation Tun Tun as an operation normally carried out at night, where a Bolivarian Intelligence Service commission visits the person and takes them away, possibly without an arrest warrant or issued by a Public Ministry prosecutor. When asked by the Argentine jurist Luis Moreno Ocampo about the origin of the name, García Plaza answered that although he did not know its origin and that "one would have to ask Diosdado Cabello", he supposed that it came from the sound emitted by the door when it is knocked by the security forces.[2]
History
On 17 May 2017, Diosdado Cabello assured during his television program Con el mazo dando that he would activate an operation called "Tun Tun" that night for people who imported implements for "terrorists", noting that the opposition "is going to take more stick than a thieving cat" and describing Voluntad Popular deputy Freddy Guevara as a "drug addict".[3] Diosdado also threatened the shipping companies in the country, stating that "they contribute with the transfer of supplies that are used by members of these violent groups to generate acts of vandalism and terrorism in Venezuela" and declaring that the situation "will be taken to the competent authorities to investigate these actions", saying that shipping companies DHL, Liberty Express, Aduanera Las Dos L, Aduana Isacar and Economía Aduanera 2000 could be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law.[4]
On 24 June, during a ceremony commemorating the Battle of Carabobo and Army Day, President Nicolás Maduro declared that all those detained in Operation Tun Tun were under military justice,[5] and on 19 July Diosdado Cabello threatened, again in his program Con el mazo dando, the candidates to be appointed by the National Assembly as judges of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, after the judges appointed in 2015 with vices and irregularities by the outgoing ruling party majority of the National Assembly, saying: "Let's see who will appoint you, who will defend you, to see if Julio Borges will defend you when the operation tuntun comes for you, let's see if they will defend you."[6]
On the morning of 30 April 2018, officers of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) raided the house of the relatives of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela in exile judge Elenis Rodríguez, in Maturín, where they stole a computer equipment and where her mother, who had Alzheimer's disease, and a sister of the justice live, who was taken as a witness to testify but was released after several hours. In the rest of the country, similar procedures were carried out against properties of at least four other magistrates, including Miguel Angel Martin, who served as president of the Supreme Tribunal, and magistrates Cioly Zambrano, Tony Marval, and Pedro Troconis.[7]
On July 11, 2019, Diosdado threatened to apply Operation Tun Tun against diplomat Reinaldo Diaz Ohep.[8] In 2020, the Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of Venezuela published a report on the COVID-19 pandemic where it warned that the peak of the outbreak in the country could reach 4,000 cases per day in June. Cabello responded to the report by threatening the academy, saying "This is an invitation for security agencies to visit these people. It is an invitation to a tun tun". The academy rejected the threats.[9]
Reception
The door of the concierge's office of one of the residences was broken, and what they got was maintenance material. The cruelty was so great that they used a small dab of liquid asphalt to paint on the floor a graffiti that said 'this is so that they will continue guarimbeando, while with gallons of paint they stained the elevators and corridors.
César Ramírez, deputy of the Legislative Council of the Bolívar state.
A report by Human Rights Watch and Foro Penal documented at least six instances in which Venezuelan security forces raided residential areas and apartments in Caracas and in four different states. In some of these raids, which tended to occur near barricades built by protesters, security forces entered homes without search warrants, stealing personal belongings and food, and both beating and arresting residents.[1]
The deputy of the Legislative Council of the Bolívar state, Cesar Ramírez, witnessed the raid in the urbanizations of Villa Latina, Los Olivos and Los Mangos in
Political scientist and editor of Aporrea Nicmer Evans described the operation as "fascist", denouncing that they knocked on his door to ask him about deputy Germán Ferrer, husband of the attorney general dismissed by the National Constituent Assembly, Luisa Ortega Díaz.[11] In 2020, constitutionalist Joel Rodríguez Ramos declared that Operation Tun Tun "presaged barbarism".[12]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-6231-3549-2.
- ^ OAS Videos - Events (15 September 2017). "Audiences to analyze possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela. September 15th, 2017". YouTube. 2:17:21. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ "Diosdado Cabello: Comenzó la operación "Tun tun" contra los terroristas". El Nacional. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ López, Odell (17 May 2017). "Cabello amenaza con allanamientos a través de la "Operación tun tun"". Efecto Cocuyo. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Núñez, Ayatola (25 June 2017). ""Todos los detenidos en la operación tun-tun están bajo justicia militar"". El Nacional. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ López, Odell (19 July 2017). "Cabello amenaza a futuros magistrados con la "operación tun tun"". Efecto Cocuyo. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ Rodríguez Rosas, Ronny. "Allanan inmuebles vinculados con al menos cinco magistrados del TSJ en el exilio". Efecto Cocuyo. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Diosdado amenaza con aplicar "operación tún tún" contra el diplomático Reinaldo Díaz Ohep (VIDEO)". La Patilla. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ "Academia de Ciencias rechaza amenazas de Diosdado Cabello". Runrun (in Spanish). 14 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "El diputado César Ramírez condenó la violación de derechos humanos durante "operación Tun Tun" en Puerto Ordaz". El Correo del Orinoco. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ "Nicmer Evans: Operación tun tun tocó mi puerta para preguntarme por Ferrer". El Nacional. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ Sánchez, Pacífico (31 March 2020). "Constitucionalista Joel Rodríguez Ramos: Operación "tun tun" presagia barbarie". El Impulso. Retrieved 3 April 2020.