Alleged dissidents reportedly took over a school in Cedeño

Alleged members of the Segunda Marquetalia, a FARC dissident group, reportedly took over the facilities of a Fe y Alegría school in the mining municipality of Cedeño, in Bolívar state, in southern Venezuela, according to the complaint presented by Cecodap. --- The context --- Carlos Trapani, general coordinator of Cecodap, recalled that a year ago the Venezuelan state admitted that members of the ELN and FARC dissidents operated in Los Pijiguaos, where the assault on the Fe y Alegría site was recorded. That context, according to Trapani, helps measure what is happening in La Batea and Punta Brava, Indigenous towns in Cedeño: armed men, controls over residents, threats, detentions, departure of families and teachers, and direct impact on a school. --- The facts --- Trapani said teachers and families have had to leave the community for security reasons and that, for children, the school stopped being a safe space. In August, spokespeople for the Indigenous community reported the kidnapping and murder of local leader Julio Rodríguez by men from the FARC dissidents, who also attacked residents with drones and explosive devices, according to those community spokespeople. Venezuelan military aircraft were also reported flying over this region to combat the ELN, and the deployment forced the evacuation of the state company CVG Bauxilum Los Pijiguaos, which according to testimonies was practically paralyzed by threats from criminals. --- The positions --- Cecodap demanded that the response not be limited to removing the armed men from the campus and include protecting families and teachers, identifying children at risk, guaranteeing educational continuity, preventing recruitment, assisting those who have left, and investigating the facts. A professor at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello stressed that the state was aware of this situation since October 2025 and argued that protecting children also requires anticipating violence to prevent it from reaching the school. --- What remains unknown --- The interim government of Delcy Rodríguez has not taken a position. At almost the same time, an unofficial version emerged about an alleged attack by the National Armed Force against a suspected ELN drug storage center in Apure, bordering Colombia, with no statements from Venezuelan authorities. --- Unanswered questions --- What verifiable actions have been taken to recover the school facilities reported as taken over? What permanent state presence will protect La Batea, Punta Brava, and Los Pijiguaos from the armed groups named? When will the interim government take a position on the complaint and on the unofficial version referring to Apure? --- EPM analysis --- What was reported combines the presence of illegal armed actors in Indigenous and mining communities and the lack of a known official response to events that, according to the precedents cited, were foreseeable a year ago in Bolívar. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, a school allegedly taken over by armed men expresses a loss of territorial control that no state can normalize or leave without a verifiable response. The absence of an official position deepens uncertainty for the communities named. Recovering the school, protecting its residents, and restoring legitimate authority in Cedeño require effective state presence, investigation of the reported facts, and concrete guarantees so that no illegal armed group decides who may teach, study, or remain in their own town.

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