E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3 page 9 demonstrations and other forms of protests and in connection with land ownership reportedly continue to occur, as in the following cases. 24. On 30 May 1995 a group of 24 students from the Instituto Universitario Barlovento in Higuerote, State of Miranda, were apparently conducting internal demonstrations to protest against the poor performance of some teachers. The Miranda State Police allegedly arrived and severely beat the students, mainly using peinillas (truncheons), released tear-gas bombs on the premises and took the students to police headquarters. 25. Baudilio Contreras was allegedly tortured on 16 November 1995, when a group of peasants set up camp in a place called “El Pollire”, Santa Bárbara, State of Barinas, claiming ownership of some land on behalf of the National Agrarian Institute. The National Guard reportedly arrived on the scene to remove the peasants. When Baudilio Contreras attempted to speak for the group to explain the reasons for its action, the guards allegedly beat him severely; they then tied him to a tree, released tear-gas bombs next to him and introduced tear-gas residue into his nostrils, mouth and eyes. Lastly, they tied him to the tail of a horse, which dragged him some 800 metres. He was then taken to headquarters and from there to the PTJ, which allegedly refused to receive him when they saw the poor state he was in. He was visited by the prosecutor and forensic physician at his relatives’ insistence. The physician, however, did not examine him. 26. In several areas in the border States, raids by Colombian guerrilla forces into Venezuelan territory, together with smuggling and the drug traffic, have led on the one hand to an increase in the forces of order detailed to these areas especially the army, and on the other to increased insecurity among the inhabitants. As part of their operations, the forces of order, organized into what are known as “theatres of operations” in some areas, allegedly commit abuses, including torture, against the mostly peasant civilian population on suspicion of collaboration with the guerrilla forces, occasionally taking advantage of the suspension of constitutional guarantees. Below are a few examples of these abuses. 27. Mario Landino and his 18-year-old son Henry Landino, members of the Barí indigenous community, were arrested in March 1993 in the town of El Cruce, municipality of Catatumbo, State of Zulia, by a military patrol, one day before a group of approximately 60 soldiers raided the neighbouring community, “5 de julio ”, where they allegedly searched homes and interrogated and threatened the inhabitants. They were allegedly held incommunicado with approximately 30 other individuals, in a place which they were unable to identify, and subjected to various forms of torture, such as near suffocation by placing over their heads a plastic bag containing ammonia or tying ropes round their necks, beatings, burning with caustic substances and death threats. They were also given injections of a substance producing a burning sensation throughout the body. In these circumstances they were allegedly forced to sign confessions of collaboration with the Colombian guerrilla movement. On 4 April 1994 they were taken to the Santa Bárbara police station, after being threatened with electric shocks if they told that they had been tortured by the military. They remained in Santa Bárbara for three days with no water or food. A PTJ doctor allegedly examined them, but did not certify their injuries in his report. They were then moved to