Maduro’s government offers a reward of up to US $ 500,000 for the capture of those allegedly responsible for the shootings in Caracas

(CNN Spanish) – The Ministry of the Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela offered a reward for information that establishes where the members of the gang led by Carlos Luis Revete, alias Koki, are, allegedly responsible for the intense shooting that keeps various sectors of southwestern Caracas on fire since Wednesday afternoon, the Communication and Information office reported on its Twitter account.

The rewards reach up to US $ 500,000 and it is the first time that the questioned Government of Nicolás Maduro identifies Revete as the leader of a criminal structure that controls Cota 905, a popular sector in western Caracas, and exerts influence in neighborhoods and urbanizations nearby such as La Vega, El Paraíso, El Cementerio or Quinta Crespo.

It is not the first time that shots have been reported in that area of ​​the Venezuelan capital. In March, several citizens were trapped in a tunnel during a shooting, but the authorities did not comment.

On this occasion, the inhabitants of that area of ​​the capital, which includes popular neighborhoods and middle-class urbanizations full of buildings, have spent more than 24 hours in suspense.

“Tragedy and anxiety”

CNN was able to speak with a neighbor of the La Vega parish, a 28-year-old man who for security reasons preferred not to identify himself, and recounted part of the “tragedy and anxiety” that he had to live with his family.

He said that at 4:00 pm local time, when the shots began to be heard, his five-year-old daughter was on directed duties. In the midst of the tense situation, the teacher suspended class and accompanied her student and her 15-year-old sister home.

The neighbor says that they were both very scared and nervous, they had been left alone and did not know what to do. She says they then stayed home, lying on the floor, waiting for their mother to return from work. Fortunately, the mother managed to arrive before the shooting worsened.

But he did not have the same luck.

He says he was working when he learned of the shooting near his home. When his shift ended, he understood that it was too late to return and decided to wait. He was on the main avenue of El Cementerio, a middle-class sector in the southwest of Caracas, far from his house, where the detonations and screams of the criminals could also be heard, who said that he could not pass.

From El Cementerio it is possible to get to La Vega, where the neighbor interviewed by CNN lives, through the trails of the mountains southwest of the Venezuelan capital. It’s a risky step, but at the same time, he says, it was the only way to get home because the main roads were blocked.

During the journey, the man assures that he could see in the distance how the criminals shot at vehicles and looted a truck, which they later burned.

After getting home, he says, the nightmare did not end. The shooting continued through the night with short pauses followed by further attacks. However, he assures that he thought that on Thursday morning the scenario would change.

But it was not like that.

Upon waking up, he says that he could see how the criminals passed between the houses shouting to the residents of La Vega that they could not leave and that no one could enter the sector.

Cross accusations

In her Twitter account, the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Carmen MelendezHe said that the authorities had started an operation “to restore peace and tranquility to the communities in the south and west of the city of Caracas.”

Without presenting evidence, Meléndez accused “sectors of the Venezuelan right with international complicity” of what happened.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó said on his social networks that “the dictatorship is responsible for promoting, financing and generating impunity for gangs that today generate anxiety as it did with the ELN and the FARC dissidence.”

“Do not come now with repeated excuses and scripts,” he said.