Former director of Sebin says he informed Maduro in 2018 of operations of Colombian guerrillas in Venezuela

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(CNN Spanish) - Some 600 members of the FARC and ELN guerrillas have had a presence in secret bases of the Amazon state in Venezuela, the Venezuelan general in exile, Manuel Cristopher Figuera, confirmed to CNN.

The information, published earlier by The Washington Post , says that Cristopher Figuera personally delivered a report to the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, about the presence of guerrillas in Venezuelan territory and that his report was complemented by intelligence information from the Government of Colombia .

Cristopher Figuera explained to CNN that the report was prepared in November 2018, after a group of guerrillas ambushed a group of Venezuelan military, resulting in the death of several officers.

The former director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) told CNN that after presenting the report to Maduro, he also shared it with Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, but there was no action on his part. On the contrary, the general insists that the Government offers logistical and military support to guerrilla groups.

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Cristopher Figuera says he also gave the document to the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), but says that this unit "had orders not to investigate drugs or guerrillas."

CNN contacted the Press Office of the Maduro Government, but so far it has not received a response.

During the Sao Paulo Forum, held in Caracas in July, the questioned president of Venezuela announced that former FARC leaders Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich would be welcomed in Venezuela, who announced their return to arms after signing a peace agreement with the Government of the then president Juan Manuel Santos. Maduro also stated that both Marquez and Santrich are "peace leaders."

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From the official ranks, the first vice president of the National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, said in August that the situation in Colombia is worrisome, but warned that the FARC problem does not
It has nothing to do with Venezuela.

General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera left Venezuela on April 30, the day in which various opposition sectors, led by the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, tried - unsuccessfully - to take the besieged President Maduro out of power.

The general was appointed director of the Sebin by Maduro in October 2018, replacing Gustavo González López. Months later, in April 2019, González López would return to his position, after Cristopher Figuera finally broke up with Maduro.