GUERRILLA FIGHTERS BATTLE ENCIRCLEMENT
By Daniel Chirinos
{The following article has been translated from the April 5 issue of the Venezuelan underground publication Tribuna Popular, The ie title is “Derrotar el Cerco" (To Defeat the Encirclement ) Le ?
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A new military~police offensive is under way in the guerrilla zones of Falcén, Para, Trujillo-Portuguesa and Monagas=Sucre. Thousands of troops and police are participating in the punitive opera= tion. The government's aim is clear -- to attack the guerrilla detachments with the objective of undermining their base of social support, isolating and then destroying them, They have failed more than once in their aims. Their biggest defeat occurred at the end of 1964 in "Operation Extermination,"
The political crisis is now deeper and the attrition of the government's standing is more pronounced. . Today better political and military conditions exist to defeat the new encirclement initia-~ ted by the government forces, But to accomplish this certain requisites are an absolute necessity.
. The first condition is the mobility and audacity of the guerrilla detachments in eluding the encirclement and in striking at the
government forces,
The second condition is the semimilitary support of the masses located in the peripheral zone of the encirclement -- sabotage, shel+ tering the fighters, etc.
The third condition is the mobilization. of public opinion to restrain the criminal hand of the attacking forces, to paralyze their reprisals and their murderous order to take no prisoners, shooting whoever falls into their power as they did with Soto Rojas, Trino . Barrios and other brave guerrilla fighters,
The fourth condition is that the freedom movement does every=thing in its power to convince the country that it is time to put into effect a policy different from that of the Betancourtists and to seek the means to unite the immense majority of Venezuelans who want a government of democratic. and nationalist peace.
The fifth condition is to convince officers: and soldiers that. nothing is to be gained in this war against the freedom movement. The peace message of the freedom movement must be brought to the detachments and to the mass of officers and soldiers. What interests are they defending? Why. are they on the side of murderers like Carlos Andrés Pérez? Why should they risk their lives and energy to maintain an inept government, to defend a government that decrees measures against the people and fosters an antinational management favoring the big North American monopolies? In the National Armed Forces there are sectors receptive to the reasoning of the freedom movement and it is necessary to reach them directly and indirectly.:
The sixth condition is a big publicity campaign over the. outrages committed by the government, the guerrilla method of selfdefense, the successes of our heroic combatants in their operations and resistance.
The guerrilla movement is. the most militant part of fighting Venezuela, The guerrilla movement advances the development of the political crisis, stimulates the rest of the popular movement by its presence and its actions, offers realistic hope to the broad toiling masses, is a people in arms against the official violence . enthroned in Miraflores that follows the dictates of the Betancourtist camarilla and the "gorillas". who block all roads to a dialogue and peace.
The guerrilla movement is no obstacle in the road to peace, . while it is one of the main walls blocking the objectives of the dirty politicians who seek to perpetuate, the rule of the native and foreign oligarchical minority groups. The. guerrilla movement, as part of Venezuela in arms, is conscious of its role in the present over-all struggle of the people for independence and democracy.
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Solidarity with the guerrilla movement must be placed on the agenda to help it defeat the new and criminal encirclement launched against the populations surrounding the guerrilla zones. Those who say that the government is compelled to occupy these zones should be reminded that the government is obliged above all to guarantee peace, And this can be achieved only by respecting democratic freedoms, liberating the prisoners, legalizing the PCV [Venezuelan Com munist party] and the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria], and passing measures in favor of the poor in our country. These are the political conditions that must be established in order to restore peace among Venezuelans. It will not be gained by means of criminal military encirclements.
_ The answer to the military-police mobilization must be sup= _. port for the guerrilla fighters and a struggle for a government that will end the recourse to violence and establish nationalist and. democratic premises, .