“I feel like I saw death in the face, it is still difficult for me to verbalize it,” concedes political scientist Luis Peche (Caracas, 30 years old) while recovering from the attack of which he was a victim last week in Bogotá. Together with their friend, activist Yendri Velásquez, they were shot by three hitmen when they were leaving their residence on Monday, October 13. They barely saved their lives. “José Gregorio Hernández began his canonization week by performing a little miracle for two Venezuelans,” he points out at the beginning of this interview granted by video call, since he is sheltered in a place that he does not reveal. A picture of the famous doctor who had recently become a saint accompanied him in the hospital. Last week’s unprecedented attack against the two exiles has spread panic among the many people who support the Nicolás Maduro regime who have crossed the border to settle in neighboring Colombia, by far the main host country for the diaspora.
Ask. What do you remember about the attack?
Answer. I have it quite fresh. It was a normal day, a holiday. We are in the lobby of the building waiting for a taxi and we leave when the application says it is already arriving. At that moment everything begins. I was looking at the phone, and when I turned around three people got out of the vehicle. It was all like in slow motion. What I have very clear is that the person who was in front of the group of shooters – dark, tall, hooded – is aiming at my head. I hear the sound of a gun jamming, jamming. It’s not the first time, it’s not the second time, it’s the third time when he starts to open fire. There I realize everything, I scream and in what must have been a reflex act – I don’t know how it happened, honestly – I throw myself into a planter in the building. I think I have to protect myself from getting hit in the head. Then I heard a huge amount of gunshots. They gave Yendri eight, me six; There are already 14 bullets that hit. I estimate that there were at least 20, since I hear a lot. I ask for help, he also screams for help. I look up and look completely bloody. I think I’m going to die. A lot of neighbors arrive, they start shouting… I understand that the guys finished emptying their guns, got on and started off. I see Yendri who is also bloody and shouts at me “I don’t want to die.” Angels appeared during the transfer to the clinic, and the police also arrived very quickly.
P. Had they been threatened before the attack?
R. No. I left Venezuela for Colombia in May. One of my best friends, Carlos Marcano, a journalist, was arrested the previous week. It was a very hard blow. Carlos Marcano is innocent, I will say it as many times as I can. His imprisonment was an alarm signal, he had to leave the country. Today there are more than a thousand political prisoners in Venezuela, most of them without cases or foundation. Since I was in Colombia I had felt absolutely no type of threat. I love Bogotá, I think it is a beautiful city, in which I felt safe. I was rebuilding my life here. My grandparents are Colombian, my mother too, so I became a citizen. At this moment I have two nationalities, but I am not safe in either country.
P. The Venezuelan Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, referred to the attack…
R. Obviously in Venezuela there is no rule of law. The only official response from the Venezuelan dictatorship was Diosdado Cabello mocking him on his program, minimizing it, talking about homophobic issues. I am not homosexual, I am heterosexual, but Yendri is one of my best friends and I defend his cause, I defend LGBTIQ rights. I don’t care if Diosdado says we’re a couple or something like that. I find it rather sad, a little pathetic, that they appeal to elements of sexuality, as if that then meant that our lives were worth less. This is a very clear wake-up call of how far the arm of a persecuting State can go.
P. At this point, did Bogotá feel like your home?
R. It’s difficult, because for me, my home is Caracas. In my group of friends I was that person who refused to leave. I came to have uncomfortable conversations with my friends, who asked me once a month “and when are you leaving?” I responded: “I’m not leaving, I’m staying.” My intention was, always, to make a life in Venezuela, to start a family there. I have a lot of love for Bogotá, a lot of gratitude, despite this incident. I felt, it gave me opportunities. But my home is still Caracas.
P. How is the recovery going?
R. It’s painful, honestly, quite traumatic. I am filling myself with a lot of patience, understanding that the process is going to be quite long. Several of my bones were pulverized, especially in my foot, not just fractured. Then comes the effort to rebuild them. I am a runner, my passion is runningand having one foot in that condition fills me with helplessness. I am dedicated to the process, I understand that this is a new opportunity to live, which could have been much worse. Yendri’s process is also quite slow, but we are both recovering, with full faith that we are going to come out even stronger.
P. “Doing politics, defending human rights or even expressing an opinion about what is happening in Venezuela can be the cause of murder, not only within the country,” he wrote in his first reaction, still from the hospital. Do you attribute the attack to the Nicolás Maduro regime?
R. I prefer that the Colombian authorities be the ones to clarify what happened, understanding that there is an ongoing investigation. What I must say is that since that attack other people have left Colombia because they can no longer feel safe. Some organizations had to close their offices indefinitely. There are people who have written to me telling me that they have felt threatened, in one way or another, in a very similar way to what is happening in Venezuela. So, I think that was the message, very much in the style of terrorism. Who would be interested?
P. He has said that transnational repression is a reality.
R. The case of Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda [asesinado en Chile] That’s what it says, right? The Chilean institutions investigated, found causes, found those responsible, and achieved an extradition request. They obtained material and intellectual authors. Last week, in the middle of my hospitalization, I was able to see Gabriel Boric’s speech in which he held the Venezuelan State responsible for what happened there. I hope that this case ends like this, with material responsibility, but also intellectual responsibility, which is the most important thing. It should leave a precedent. Beyond speculating, I believe that institutions in Colombia and the region have to take this seriously. Hundreds of activists, human rights defenders, journalists, politicians who had to leave Venezuela and can be searched for in other places. You don’t have to wait for a tragedy to happen to be able to act and offer.
