Caracas Chronicles

It’s astonishing, but Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez had the balls to appoint none other than Danilo Anderson to “investigate” the death of Yormi Suárez Rivero, who was shot dead while he protested on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. at Plaza La India in El Paraiso, in the west side of Caracas.

“Environmental” “prosecutor” Danilo Anderson

As for Danilo Anderson, well, where to even start? For those of you not privileged to have heard of him, his official title is “fourth environmental crimes prosecutor.” He has no expertise whatsoever in criminal law, much less in muder investigations. Yet he has been appointed by the Chavez-puppet of an Attorney General we have to head up the investigation of almost every violent attack against the opposition.

Anderson, a known chavista, has never once gotten anyone convicted for shooting and killing an opposition activist, including in several cases where there was videotaped evidence linking chavista subjects to shootings. His appointment to the case is a slap in the face of Yormi’s family as they grieve. It should shock and outrage anyone concerned with human rights in Venezuela, and confirms again the state of total impunity and increasing lawlessness that grips the country at this time.

Yormi was 23. His sister said he was very upset by footage of the National Guard beating up Elinor Montes, a despicable image many times magnified by endless repetition on the opposition media. While the government more than evidently bares the brunt of the blame in this sad affair, Globovision should think about the impact of tactics like repeating again and again emotionally charged images like the beating of Elinor Montes. The private media needs to be mindful of the human costs of the incitement it broadcasts.