Young ‘Chavista’ lawmaker Robert Serra killed in Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Young ‘Chavista’ lawmaker Robert Serra killed in Venezuela

Serra, 27, was Venezuela’s youngest lawmaker

Reuters
Published: 13:13 October 2, 2014

CARACAS: A “Chavista” ruling party lawmaker was killed on Wednesday in Venezuela’s latest high-profile violent crime.

Robert Serra and his partner, Maria Herrera, were found dead in his home in the poor La Pastora neighbourhood of the capital, Caracas, state news agency AVN reported.

“They were vilely killed here in their house, a two-storied house, on the ground floor lay the woman and on the upper floor lay Robert Serra,” Interior and Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told state television. “I call on members of the PSUV (party), on youth in political parties ... to all citizens, to remain calm as we’ll investigate this fully,” he said.

Serra, 27, was Venezuela’s youngest lawmaker, according to his blog. He had a Master’s Degree in criminology, media reported.
He was seen as one of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) most promising young leaders and his death again puts the spotlight on one of the world’s highest homicide rates.

More:
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/young-chavista-lawmaker-robert-serra-killed-in-venezuela-1.1393288

[Judi Lynn]

1. Venezuelan lawmaker close to President Maduro shot dead

Venezuelan lawmaker close to President Maduro shot dead

An investigation is under way into the shooting deaths of Venezuelan lawmaker Robert Serra and his partner Maria Herrera on Wednesday evening.

By JC Finley | Oct. 2, 2014 at 2:52 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Robert Serra, one of Venezuela's promising young lawmakers, was found shot to death along with his partner, Maria Herrera, at their residence Wednesday night.
The couple was "vilely killed here in their house, a two-storied house, on the ground floor lay the woman and on the upper floor lay Robert Serra," said Interior, Justice and Peace Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres.

An investigation is underway.

"We will find those responsible for this monstrosity," Torres said in a televised address Thursday morning, and urged the United Socialist (PSUV) party, which Serra helped lead, to "remain calm."

President Nicolas Maduro mourned Serra's loss, writing on Twitter that his death has brought "immense pain." Serra was a rising leader in the party and was an ardent defender of Maduro's.

More:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/10/02/Venezuelan-lawmaker-close-to-President-Maduro-shot-dead/2701412271909/#ixzz3F6U2ftth

[Bacchus4.0]

2. He was stabbed to death, not shot n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Venezuelan Government Reports Evidence that Serra's Assassination Tied to Right-Wing Terrorist Plot

Venezuelan Government Reports Evidence that Serra's Assassination Tied to Right-Wing Terrorist Plot
By Cory Fischer-Hoffman

Caracas, 3rd October 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - The murder of Robert Serra, a young legislator of the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela), who was killed in his home along with his companion Maria Herrera late Wednesday night, is tied to a right-wing terrorist plot, government officials stated yesterday. Thousands filled the streets of Caracas yesterday and late last night to honor Serra’s memory. President Maduro vowed to take “swift action” against “terrorist acts.”

In response to opposition claims that Serra's death was a result of an isolated or common crime, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, Minister of Interior Relations, stated that, “We're not dealing with unfortunate events committed by a common criminal. We are dealing with an intentional murder, planned and executed with great precision...According to the evidence obtained everything points to a planned , organized and detailed [assassination] technique. ”

Venezuela's scientific investigation police (CICPC) are studying video carama footage from Serra's home and have collected forensic evidence. It has been reported that Serra and Herrera were killed by stab wounds. Herrera received 6 - 7, while Serra was gagged and handcuffed and received up to 40 stab wounds before he was murdered. The act is thought to have taken 15 - 20 minutes.

The assassinations are thought to have been carried out by a group of six men, who were armed, and gained entry into Serra's house through some kind of guise. No evidence of forced entry was found.
The secretary general of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, appeared to agree with the Venezuelan government's hypothesis as to the nature of the assassination. He responded to the news yesterday via twitter by writing, “The assassination of the young legislator Robert Serra in Venezuela is a worrying sign of the infiltration of Colombian paramilitarism.”

More:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10944

[Judi Lynn]

4. Who was Robert Serra, Chavez's deputy killed in Venezuela? (Google translation)

Who was Robert Serra, Chavez's deputy killed in Venezuela?
Daniel Pardo
BBC News, Caracas
October 2, 2014



Robert Serra, Venezuelan deputy killed in Wednesday night inside his home in western Caracas, not usually go unnoticed.

In 2010, at age 23, Serra was elected-the youngest member in the history of Venezuela to the National Assembly for the Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the circuit 2 of the Capital District, the same area where he was killed.

Since then he stood out as a staunch defender of the so-called Bolivarian revolution in the parliament, a task already made since his days as a student leader.

Always well groomed, always dressed in bright colors, the young Chavez was controversial literally from the first time he appeared on Venezuelan television.

"Macabre entrustment"

Serra's murder occurred at 9:30 pm Wednesday at his home in La Pastora, a popular area between downtown and the parish Caracas January 23, both considered bastions of Chavez.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres, ruled in a brief press conference that "common criminals" was behind the murder.

"The killing of Robert Serra was intentional, planned, organized and executed with great precision," Torres said.

He added that what he described as "macabre encomienda" was made with a sharp weapon in a time of 15-20 minutes, and occurred in both people with a "hypovolemic shock" (ie, a loss of blood that makes organs to fail).

~ ~ ~



In this photo, Serra was campaigning for parliamentary elections in 2010
with Hugo Chavez

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2014/10/141002_venezuela_diputado_robert_serra_dp

[Bacchus4.0]

6. THanks for the BBC link saying Serra got the support from the paramilitaries

La campaña de Serra para ser elegido diputado en 2011 fue apoyada por los colectivos del 23 de Enero, algunos de los cuales son descritos por la oposición como "organizaciones paramilitares ilegales".

Serra recibió el respaldo de uno de los líderes más polémicos de los colectivos: Valentín Santana, jefe del colectivo La Piedrita, quien tiene orden de captura por presunto homicidio.
----------------------------------

Serra received support of the polemic leaders of the colectivos (paramilitaries): Valentin Santana, chief of the Piedrita colectivo, who has an order for capture for homicide.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Pro-government Venezuela lawmaker slain at home

Pro-government Venezuela lawmaker slain at home
The Associated Press
10/02/2014 6:15 PM
| Updated: 10/02/2014 6:15 PM


[font size=1]
Venezuela's Education Minister Hector Rodriguez, left, and Sports Minister Antonio Alvarez, right, carry the coffin of the late lawmaker Robert Serra to the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014. Serra, a rising star in Venezuela's ruling socialist party, was stabbed to death in his home, officials said Thursday. The 27-year-old Serra was a lawyer by training and was elected to Congress in 2010 as a member of the ruling party. He gained prominence organizing youth to counter a wave of destabilizing student protests in 2007.Fernando Llano/AP Photo [/font]

CARACAS, Venezuela —

A rising star in Venezuela's ruling socialist party was found stabbed to death in his home, and officials said Thursday it was a carefully planned murder. Twenty-seven-year-old legislator Robert Serra, a lawyer by training, was elected to Congress in 2010 as a member of the ruling party after gaining prominence organizing young people to counter a wave of destabilizing student protests in 2007.

Neighbors discovered his body and that of a woman, Maria Herrera, in his house in the working class La Pastora district of Caracas on Wednesday night.

Mireya Midolo, who lives nearby, said her son had gone to check after seeing two large white motorcycles with their motors running in front of the house and the doors to the home open. "There was no sound of the door being forced or cries or anything," she said. She added that she was surprised the bodyguards who often accompanied Serra were not present.

Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said at a news conference that the attack was "an intentional homicide, planned and executed with great precision." He did not give details about a possible motive.

More:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article2483451.html#storylink=cpy

[Judi Lynn]

7. Interesting article just found from an interesting leftist website, regarding Venezuelan terrorists:

Eight international terrorists caught in Caracas; more to come
March 3, 2014 — Sabina Becker

Dramatic developments in Venezuela as more putschists and violent instigators are behind bars tonight. Here’s the story, via Aporrea:

The Venezuelan government has arrested 41 persons in the Altamira neighborhood of eastern Caracas, who caused damage to public and private property and held up vehicular traffic in the zone on Friday.

Of this group, eight are of foreign nationality, and were wanted for international terrorism, according to President Nicolás Maduro, via Twitter.

The head of state, in the context of the Peace and Coexistence Plan, announced the formation of a special police and military team for investigating the entry of irregulars and mercenaries into the country to create violence by way of narcotrafficking.

Translation mine.

The 41 perps were caught in flagrante delicto, so there’s not much doubt about what they were up to. One of them is a minor. Most are male.

Meanwhile, in other news of guarimberos caught in flagrante, we have this little item:

Venezuelan Robert Alonso, the “King of the Guarimba”, on whose estate 100 Colombian paramilitaries were captured in May 2004, is conspiring in Miami with well-known Cuban-American terrorists, as confirmed inadvertently by a web site identified with Luis Posada Carriles and the most violent elements of the local circles generated by the CIA.

The site “Nuevo Acción” (sic), published by Aldo Rosado Tuero, openly nostalgic for Franco and Mussolini, announced that “opposition leader” Robert Alonso addressed a select group of Cuban-American terrorists at a “patriotic luncheon” located at “La Finca Media Luna”, on the outskirts of Miami.

Alonso addressed the attendees “to call for help and solidarity for the irreducible combatants of Cuban exile for his campaign to increase resistance to the ungovernment of Nicolás Maduro,” reported Nuevo Acción. “Robert explained the function of the ‘guarimba’ and other forms of struggle which a group of ‘Venezuelan patriots’ were performing.”

In the accompanying photo, one can see Reinol Rodríguez, current “military chief” of Alpha 66, along with José Dionisio Suárez and Armando Valladares, three individuals known to belong to organizations formed by the CIA.

Reinol (Reynol or Reynold) Rodríguez belongs to the small group of paramilitaries tied to international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, in Miami. Rodríguez is the killer of Carlos Muñiz Varela, who was shot dead from a car in a march on April 28, 1979. The young Cuban was then director of the Varadero Travel Agency, in the capital of Puerto Rico, and organized visits from exiles to Cuba as part of a process of political rapprochement.

Cont'd

More:
http://www.sabinabecker.com/2014/03/eight-international-terrorists-caught-in-caracas-more-to-come.html