Caracas, December 5 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, Carmen Melendez, held a meeting on Thursday with members of the Commission of Victims of Sicariato (hired assassinations), in order to take measures to protect small farmers of the country.

On November 19th, the commission said that 178 farmers have been murdered for defending the Law of Lands and Agricultural Development implemented during Hugo Chavez' administration in 2001. However, rural movements say the figure is well over 200.

The commission includes legislators Braulio Alvarez and Orlando Zambrano from the governing Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), who are also part of the National Socialist Front of Farmers and Fisherpeople Simon Bolivar.

On Wednesday, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the General High Command of the System of Popular Protection (SP2), headed by Melendez, to hold the meeting. He said it was vital to end with the “agricultural mafias” who act like intermediaries between farmers and consumers.

Maduro instructed the defense minister to increase surveillance, and the “detection and elimination” of mafia, and said he would help increase the number of militia (or people´s) soldiers.