reporter: one active senior military source confirms what we ve heard in town telling me the same groups use death squads to commando bead yens, battling each other and for the control over the area. it is a pressure tactic of blood and bullets. i asked the miner if he blames maduro? translator: i think the government has the capacity to put an end to the piranhas if it wants to do it but they are not going to do it because they benefit from it. reporter: this is echoed from the top. general figurera was the former spy chief for the venezuelan president until april 30th when he defected. translator: maduro has knowledge of all of this and has done very little if anything. reporter: for years he was part of the inner circle with the u.s. treasury sanctioning him that he over sass mass torture and human rights violations and now with