Nearly 40 "deserters" of the Venezuelan army were arrested on Thursday at the border with Colombia, announced the Defense Minister of Nicolas Maduro who linked their arrest to the "incursion" foiled a dozen days.
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"Today we captured 39 deserters from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces who were trying to enter (from Venezuela, editor's note) from Colombia," said General Vladimir Padrino Lopez during a round table discussion with Venezuelan officials broadcast at the television.
According to him, the army supposes that they had to provide "ground support" to the "mercenaries" whose attempt to land on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela was "foiled" on May 3 and 4. General Padrino, however, did not clarify why these 39 "deserters" attempted to enter Venezuela almost two weeks after the operation failed. These new arrests bring the number of people arrested for their alleged involvement to 91.
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Among those detained are two former American soldiers, Luke Denman and Airan Berry. Indicted in particular for "terrorism", the two men risk up to 30 years in prison.
Twenty-nine Venezuelans have been charged with "intelligence with a foreign government", in this case the United States and Colombia, and other crimes and misdemeanors.
Trump, "commander in chief" according to Maduro
According to the government of Nicolas Maduro, the plan was to land on the coast in two places, then to overthrow the Venezuelan president to allow the arrival in power of the leader of the opposition Juan Guaido, recognized as interim president by the United States and nearly 60 countries. During this operation, eight "mercenaries" were killed while confronting Venezuelan forces, according to Caracas.
Nicolas Maduro considers his American counterpart Donald Trump as "commander in chief of the operation" and accuses Juan Guaido and the Colombian government of being his accomplices. He said on Wednesday that the opponent had met in February at the White House a former American soldier, Jordan Goudreau, to plan the operation. Donald Trump denied any involvement.