With the Minister of Defense of the far-right Ivan Duque statements the Colombian government recognizes its active participation in illegal and mercenary operations of aggression against Venezuela.
The Colombian Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, reported that the country’s intelligence and counterintelligence organizations are working to identify possible military or public servants that may be at the service of other countries, in relation to Venezuela, a nation that he didn’t mention direct.
#LoÚltimo Ministro de Defensa asegura que están identificando a los responsables de filtración de información al gobierno venezolano – https://t.co/6i7ID6Be72 pic.twitter.com/2iUikB1OnI
— Noticias Caracol (@NoticiasCaracol) May 19, 2020
“The mechanisms within the Public Force are underway and will be intensified to identify any possible action by public or uniformed servants that may be related to dictatorial regimes in the region that put national sovereignty and the Colombian constitutional and democratic order at risk,” Trujillo said in statements released by his office.
On May 18, the Minister of Communication and Information of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, said that the Nicolás Maduro administration has a set of sufficient evidence that would demonstrate the participation of Venezuelan politicians living in Colombia and who would have participated in the Operation Gideon, who two weeks ago attempted to disembark armed men on a maritime incurtion from Colombia to Venezuela in order to destabilize the government.
Rodríguez directly pointed to former Venezuelan attorney general Luisa Ortega Díaz and former opposition deputy Hernán Alemán to be part of the “mercenary action,” after showing a series of audio recordings.
“This [the recordings] is a product of the infiltrations that we have within the Colombian intelligence, within the intelligence of the Colombian Armed Forces, which allowed us access to many hours of recording … it’s a small sample of the hours and hours of recording we have, “said Rodríguez.
In this regard, Trujillo said on May 19 that “Colombia has strong and solid institutions that are recognized in the international context for their respect for democratic values and the law,” and warned that “any finding will be forwarded to the competent entities to the respective criminal and disciplinary investigations. ”
Colombia has not known the government of Nicolás Maduro since his re-election in May 2018, so he maintains, along with the United States and some other countries, that it is a dictatorship, and instead recognizes the puppet Juan Guaidó as president interim of the Caribbean country.
In fact, Colombia doesn’t maintain diplomatic relations with Maduro, whose government has repeatedly accused the Colombian of promoting destabilizing actions together with the United States to promote a coup against the Chavista president.
