John, Kevin and Jason Faddoul, aged 17, 13 and 12 respectively (pictured right), were found Tuesday hanging from a tree with shotgun wounds to the head and numerous bruises and burn marks all over their bodies. The boys were still wearing their school uniforms.

Police said that the brothers were abducted Feb. 23 when unidentified men dressed as police stopped their car at a roadside checkpoint in Caracas as the boys were on their way to school.

"The whole town is in shock over what happened to our boys," said Elias Antonious, the mayor of the Lebanese village of Torza. The Bsharre village marked a "day of mourning for all Lebanon" over the deaths of the Faddoul boys. The boys were kidnapped a month ago by a group of men dressed in police uniforms while on their way to school.

All three children possessed Lebanese and Canadian citizenship. The boys' parents were both born in Lebanon, and their father, John Faddoul, is a naturalized Canadian who has been a businessman in Venezuela for more than 20 years.

According to the mayor, the parents had raised the $4 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers. "They sold and borrowed, did everything possible to get the money."

However, when the kidnappers repeatedly changed the location and date of the pickup, "out of desperation" they contacted the authorities to help them find their children.

"When that happened, it seems the kidnappers panicked and killed the boys," he said.

Chavez blames murders on capitalism

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that capitalism is to blame for a spate of violent crimes, including the slaying of three kidnapped Venezuelan-Canadian boys.

Chavez, who says he is leading a socialist revolution, said the crimes were motivated by capitalist ambitions in a "sick society."

"Capitalism is diabolic," while socialism is "authentically Christian," he said on national television.

The killings of the three kidnapped brothers unleashed days of protests across Caracas, with demands for a government crackdown on crime and police corruption.

A news photographer was also shot dead by an unidentified man while on his way to cover a protest.

"We will do all we can to get this solved, to get to the culprits and make sure this doesn't go unpunished," announced Chavez, after facing local and international pressure over the killing.

The boys' mother (pictured right) begged for the media not to politicize their deaths.

"I thank the media for their support, but what I need is help. I don't need to politicize this situation; I need justice, because I don't want another family to go through what I am going through," Gladys Diab pleaded in an emotional interview with a local television station Friday.

Kevin Faddoul, 13, Bryan Faddoul, 17, and Jason Faddoul, 12

Sources: AP, Reuters, Daily Star, El Universal, CJAD