the
Roar
A&M Consolidated High School
Meet the Consolapalooza lineup on pages 10-11.
1801 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. S., College Station, Texas 77840
Friday, April 4, 2014
Vol. 19 No. 5
inthisissue people
standing with venezuela
heather weir
annie zhang | news editor
sports
golf
Venezuelan student explains government corruption, issues in home country
reviews amico nave
wheretolook
news viewpoints snapshots student life people sports entertainment
pages 2-4 pages 5-8 page 9 page 10-11 page 12-14 page 15-17 page 18-20
W
hen she was barely thirteen, senior Maria Atencio’s father was kidnapped by the Venezuelan government—and then rescued by it. Yet for most Venezuelans, such cases have become the norm in the country some have nicknamed the “kidnap capital of the world.” Kidnappings are but one of many other problems experienced daily by Venezuelans. Atencio’s father was the president of an agricultural group in his area for a while, and although it was formed mostly for cultural reasons, it was also a part of the opposition group against the Venezuelan government. “My dad was in an area near the border of Colombia, which is an important area for the government to take because there, Venezuela has many relations with the guerrilla Columbiana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which deals with drugs, so there’s been a corrupt and illegal give-andtake of arms, drugs and food,” Atencio said.
“If they’re able to be close to that area, there’s a better way to make it not as obvious that the Venezuelan government is having such a relationship with those groups.” In order to achieve that goal, the government sent people to kidnap Atencio’s father, so they could divide the land among its supporters. “It was just a normal day on his farm and he was going to visit the workers on his farm, but when he came in to the office, most of them were tied up and their mouths were gagged,” Atencio said. “[The kidnappers] gagged my dad and then took him—just him—and the workers couldn’t do anything because they were tied up.” The workers remained bound until the people who bought milk from Atencio’s farm found them and called the police. “[It] was kind of weird during that time, like I couldn’t believe it was happening. I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t cry, I didn’t do
anything. I was in denial,” Atencio said. “But my mom was not eating or talking, and the whole time she was either crying or praying. You never know what’s going to happen to the person that’s kidnapped. You don’t know if he’s going to get killed, you don’t know if he’s going to get rescued, and you don’t know how much money you have to pay—you don’t know anything.” A week later, Atencio’s father was rescued by the government, but “for all the wrong reasons,” she said. “[The government] didn’t want the opposition to know what was going on with its relations to the illegal groups, but also they wanted to gain more votes right before the election, so people would say, ‘The government rescued Miguel Atencio, so that means they’re good.’” Atencio said.
“Venezuela” continued on page 3.