SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Learn more.

Date of Incident: March 11, 2014

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):University of Táchira

Region & Country:Americas | Venezuela

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On March 11, 2014, Daniel Tinoco, a 24-year old student leader from the University of Táchira was shot in the chest and killed during a protest in the town of San Cristobal. 
According to eye witnesses, armed groups attacked Mr. Tinoco and other student activists, as they manned barricades erected as part of the demonstrations.  The attack occurred after a day of clashes between groups of student protesters on the one hand, and government troops, along with armed paramilitary groups known as “colectivos” who are allied with the government, on the other. 
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the apparently targeted killing of a student activist.  In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and institutional autonomy.  State officials have a responsibility to ensure the security of higher education communities, to prevent future attacks, and to hold perpetrators of violent attacks accountable.
Sources
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26525145
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/11/prominent-venezuelan-student-leader-daniel-tinoco-shot-dead/
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/11/student-killed-bypoliceinvenezuelaclashes.html