On December 20, 2023, it was reported that two men were released in Venezuela who had been detained due to their involvement in the El Chaparralito ranch case, a property located in the state of Apure that was the subject of a legal dispute. The individuals are Juan Carlos Guillén Rosales, a retired Army captain and lawyer, and Carlos Alberto Jaimes Gómez, a judge. Both had been held at the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM). Their release occurred amid an exchange with the United States, which freed Colombian businessman Alex Saab in return for the Venezuelan regime’s liberation of several political prisoners, including some Americans, and the fulfillment of agreements reached with the Venezuelan opposition in Barbados.
The two released men previously participated in the liberation and transfer of the El Chaparralito ranch to Reyes Gabriel Hernández González, known as El Finquero de Apure or El Gordo, the original owner of the property. Hernández González had been accused of sheltering and protecting an alleged assassin involved in an attempted attack on Nicolás Maduro, and thanks to the intervention of Guillén Rosales and Jaimes Gómez, he was able to escape prison and flee to the United States, where he is believed to be currently residing.
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Reyes Gabriel Hernández: The Finquero of Apure Who Associated with Military and Political Figures
Reyes Gabriel Hernández
Reyes Gabriel Hernández was a wealthy and powerful man in the Apure state, bordering Colombia. He owned several ranches, including El Chaparralito, which had runways for small aircraft, and was linked to drug trafficking and corruption. He had influential friends within the government and the military, such as the late governor Jesús Alberto Aguilarte Gámez, General Eslaín Moisés Longa Tirado, and singer Cristóbal Jiménez. However, his fortune and connections did not prevent him from ending up in jail, where he was accused of aiding a suspect involved in the attempted assassination of Nicolás Maduro in 2018.
Hernández was arrested in October 2020 and held at the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), where he earned the nickname El Finquero de Apure. He enjoyed certain privileges while imprisoned, including a refrigerator, television, microwave, radio, and individual electricity in his cell. He also maintained a good relationship with officials accused of torture and human rights violations.
During a visit from representatives of UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to the DGCIM on October 7, 2020, Hernández shouted that no one had been tortured there, claiming that the victims were lying. He also stated that those in the punishment cell, known as the House of Dreams, deserved to be there due to their misbehavior. What he did not reveal was that he had denounced some of those prisoners, fabricating that they were planning a riot to escape. Among them were two colonels who had betrayed each other. Hernández also spent a few days in the House of Dreams when he contracted COVID and suffered from kidney problems.
The Godfather of a Former Governor
To understand Hernández’s case, it is necessary to go back to the history of his godfather, Jesús Alberto Aguilarte Gámez, a retired army captain who participated in the coup against Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1992 alongside Hugo Chávez and other military personnel. Aguilarte served as governor of Apure for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) during the periods of 1999-2000 and 2004-2011, when he resigned due to government pressures. During his term, he favored Hernández, who became a powerful figure involved in shady business.
Jesús Alberto Aguilarte Gámez
In 2012, Aguilarte was shot dead in a fast-food restaurant in Maracay, Aragua state. It was suspected to be a hit job linked to drug trafficking debts, but the intellectual authors were never captured. Six men were arrested as alleged hitmen: Unai Bastidas and his father Pedro Bastidas, Jesús Enrique Rodríguez, Renzo Torres, Spartaco Pacheco, and Daninyer Daniel Ferraez. Subsequently, it was revealed that Aguilarte had contacted the DEA to provide them with information. A friend stated to Infobae that Hernández had corrupted him with drugs and women, providing him with the gun he carried on the day he was killed.
A Conflict with Former Governor Carrizalez
Following Aguilarte’s death, Hernández remained in Apure, where he held significant investments. He was considered a key player in the local drug trafficking scene, one of the routes commonly used by Colombian cartels. However, he clashed with the newly appointed governor, Ramón Carrizalez, who accused him of being involved in illicit activities. Hernández defended himself by asserting he was an honest businessman and that Carrizalez was politically motivated in his pursuit.
In this context, General Eslaín Moisés Longa Tirado emerged as a significant figure. He was responsible for Chávez’s aerial rescue after the 2002 coup. Longa was the head of the Integral Defense Strategic Region (REDI) Los Llanos from 2012 to 2013 and acknowledged having a relationship with Hernández, whom he met in 2011 when he sought help regarding a missing airplane at the Guárico airport. According to Longa, he only had “certain economic dealings” with Hernández and used his El Chaparralito ranch to combat drug trafficking.
A Detention Linked to an Accused Conspirator
Reyes Gabriel Hernández
On August 4, 2018, a drone attack was carried out against Nicolás Maduro while he was giving a speech in Caracas. The government accused several officials of being involved in the plan, unleashing a manhunt. Hernández reportedly helped one of those officials escape from Venezuela, which led to his arrest and charges of attempted assassination. Moreover, the authorities confiscated El Chaparralito and other properties, reportedly used for hosting parties with women and excesses. Among his guests were singer Cristóbal Jiménez and Nixon España, from PDVSA.
Hernández also attempted to control the PSUV in Apure but faced considerable resistance. One Chavismo leader described him as “talkative, trying to make friends, and his personality is not hostile but very skillful, sending gifts, flattering, doing and asking for favors.” Despite this, he could not prevent the loss of everything he owned. He retained some companies abroad, but he no longer wore designer suits or threw lavish parties with former beauty queens.
Reyes Hernández: From Powerful Rancher to Alleged Political Target
Reyes Gabriel Hernández González is a Venezuelan cattle rancher linked to drug and arms trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes. As seen, his rise and fall are tied to his connections with political and military figures within Venezuela’s regime, including the former governor of Apure, Jesús Aguilarte Gámez, who was his trusted associate.
Hernández met Aguilarte when the latter was governor of Apure, a position he held during two terms: 1999-2000 and 2004-2011. During Aguilarte’s administration, Hernández allegedly introduced him to drug trafficking, arms dealing, and parties with prostitutes. Reyes Hernández became his right-hand man and benefitted from political connections and military leaders, allowing him to extend his dominance throughout Apure.
However, Hernández was unable to sustain his privileged position for long. Meanwhile, another rancher, Luis Bracho, filled the void left by Reyes Hernández. Bracho had many more influences and connections within the Venezuelan regime, including the former Chavista governor of Zulia state, Francisco Arias Cárdenas, through his son-in-law Rafael Villasmil.
Bracho began acquiring different cattle ranches, becoming the owner of massive ranches such as the Hato Merecure in Apure, which has distinct geographical traits. The same area has been used by camps of dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), raising suspicions of possible connections between the rancher and these armed groups.
Reyes Hernández managed to escape from the DGCIM and flee to the United States, where he presents himself as a political target. However, his credibility is in question, as while imprisoned, he was accused of fabricating alleged escape plans of his fellow detainees at DGCIM and denying that torture occurred there, as he claimed to a UN commission. Now free, Reyes Hernández has changed his story and recognized that he was a torture victim. After fleeing to the United States, he stated in a press interview: “I was tortured, they shocked me, they used all the substances they gave to the other prisoners, both inside and outside, I experienced it with them. I had no privileges at DGCIM.”
The Finquero’s Allegation Against Two Judges from Apure
After fleeing Venezuela, Hernández González publicly accused two judges in Apure, Edwin Manuel Blanco Lima and José Antonio Méndez Laprea, of demanding half a million dollars to return El Chaparralito ranch and clear his record. According to Hernández González, Méndez Laprea visited him at his home, where he was detained, and demanded the money for restoring his property and freeing him.
At a gathering, Méndez Laprea taking a selfie with Edwin Blanco at the table
The release of Guillén Rosales and Jaimes Gómez has generated controversy, as they have been portrayed as political prisoners, even though they are implicated in a judicial mafia. A judicial source revealed that the two released men belong to the same judicial tribe as Méndez Laprea, who is part of the same law firm as Gerardo Blyde, a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, former mayor of Baruta municipality in Caracas, and head of the negotiating commission in Barbados for the Venezuelan opposition’s Unitary Platform.
According to the source, Blyde negotiated with the Venezuelan regime for the release of Guillén Rosales and Jaimes Gómez as part of a political agreement that included the release of some political prisoners. The source asserted that both freed individuals were part of the same bribery and extortion network as Méndez Laprea and that Blyde included them in the release list to extricate his gang of extortionists from the Fospuca Clan.
The Fospuca Clan is the name for Blyde’s judicial network, who is partnered with businessman José Simón Elarba, owner of the Fospuca garbage collection company. Elarba is a friend of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, nephew of Cilia Flores, which is where Blyde’s connections to the Venezuelan regime reportedly come from.
The Response from Judge Méndez Laprea
Months ago, the media outlet Infobae published the complaint from Reyes Gabriel Hernández González, owner of El Chaparralito ranch, who claimed that two judges from Apure asked him for half a million dollars to return his property and erase the charges against him. These judges, Edwin Manuel Blanco Lima and José Antonio Méndez Laprea, are alleged to be involved in a power plot intertwining politics and the judicial system. One of the accused, Judge Méndez, sent an eight-page letter to Infobae to defend himself against the allegations, portraying himself as an integral, humble, and kind person.
In his letter, from May 2023, Judge Méndez described himself as a devoted father, good son, good brother, married, Catholic, having an impeccable professional record, humble, highlighting that he is the grandson and son of former judicial officials and asserting that efforts have been made to “tarnish my honor.” He stated that “being a judge is an almost divine function” and that “for that kindness, others have taken advantage of me.”
Judge Méndez acknowledged knowing Reyes Hernández because his wife “is the first cousin of my son’s mother,” which could explain why he visited Hernández’s house, where Hernández was under house arrest. However, he did not clarify why Hernández accused him of demanding half a million dollars or why Hernández would lie about it if, according to him, they maintained “friendly and constant” contact with the Salazar Pinto family.
Judge Méndez also denied having any political friends or magistrates, stating that he had only seen the former president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Maikel Moreno, once, in 2020. He also tried to exonerate and praise Circuit President Edwin Blanco, considering him “another example of overcoming,” and defended the state governor, Eduardo Piñate, against any interference in judicial decisions. According to the judge, Hernández’s complaint was aimed at creating a conflict between Piñate and his predecessor, Ramón Carrizalez.
Judge Méndez questioned Hernández’s version, indicating that if Governor Piñate called him for a meeting with him and Judge Carlos Alberto Jaimes Gómez, who granted his release, then why was Carlos still detained? He claimed that the governor had never intervened in the decisions of the state’s Criminal Judicial Circuit. However, Hernández never claimed that the governor ordered Judge Jaimes to grant him freedom, but rather encouraged him to decide according to the law.
Finally, Judge Méndez claimed that he did not own any assets, lived with his family in his grandmother’s house, and only possessed the house inherited from his deceased parents. “I do not own land, ranches, properties outside the state or country, livestock, or other valuable items,” he stated, trying to demonstrate his supposed honesty and humility.
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