A/HRC/45/CRP.11 CASE 22: Barlovento, Miranda (October 2016) 1165. Ninety kilometres east of Caracas, the Barlovento sub region takes up 4,610 square kilometres of Miranda state and consists of six municipalities: Acevedo, Andrés Bello, Brión, Buroz, Páez and Pedro Gual.2051 It is inhabited largely by people of African descent 2052 who mainly engage in cocoa and coffee farming. At the time of the Barlovento operation, opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski was Governor of Miranda state. Barlovento was declared a Peace Zone in 2013, in an attempt to reduce crime. 2053 Analysts have linked the high crime rates to criminal gangs who compete for land and cocoa farming profits.2054 1166. Events preceding the operation included the 10 January 2016 killing of two GNB sergeants, while escorting PDVSA trucks along a highway,2055 to which authorities responded on 12 January with an OLP in Caucagua, municipality of Acevedo. 2056 On 2 April 2016, a retired GNB General and his wife were killed in Caucagua,2057 leading to a deployment of over 400 soldiers and police across four municipalities. 2058 On 10 April 2016, three FANB officers, among them a couple, were kidnapped, along with their two-month-old daughter. 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 2056 2057 2058 Gobernación del estado de Miranda, Plan de ordenación de territorio del estado de Miranda, February 2011, table number 35, p. 118, available at https://www.scribd.com/doc/97733588/Plan-deOrdenacion-de-Territorio-Del-Estado-Miranda. CEPAL, La población indígena y afrodescendiente de Venezuela y el aporte del censo indígena en el estudio de la asistencia escolar, April 2015, p. 7, available at: https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/noticias/5/27905/poblacionindigenav.pdf. Diario Panorama, Rangel Ávalos: nos hemos reunido con 280 bandas en el estado Miranda, 25 August 2013, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhEvicOgFo. Connectas, El amargo cacao venezolano: entre el delito y el asedio oficial, date not specified, available at: https://www.connectas.org/especiales/el-amargo-cacao-venezolano/. El Estímulo, El enigma de los asesinatos de militares en Venezuela, 21 March 2017, available at: https://elestimulo.com/el-enigma-de-los-asesinatos-de-militares-en-venezuela/. Runrun.es, La máscara del terror oficial en Venezuela, available at: https://www.connectas.org/especiales/olp/seleccion-de-victimas/index.html. Runrun.es, Asesinan a general retirado y su esposa en Caucagua, 2 April 2016, https://runrun.es/nacional/255615/asesinan-a-general-retirado-y-a-su-esposa-en-caucagua/. InSight Crime, Número de muertos aumenta mientras prosigue operación de seguridad en Venezuela, 18 April 2016, available at: https://es.insightcrime.org/noticias/noticias-del-dia/numero-muertosaumenta-recrudecimiento-operacion-seguridad-venezuela/. 227