Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro affirmed this Saturday, October 10 that Colombia, a country with which relations are extremely tense, is leading "
a thousand mercenaries
" responsible for "
sabotaging
" the legislative elections of December 6 that the Venezuelan opposition calls for boycott.
"
As I speak to you, more than 1000 mercenaries are being prepared in Colombia under the authority of the Colombian national army and Colombian intelligence structures
", launched the socialist leader during an intervention on state television.
In the process, Maduro affirmed that his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque was not only "
in the know
", but that he brought "
his protection and his support
" to these "
terrorist mercenaries
".
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Their objective, thundered the political heir of the late President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), is to "
infiltrate Venezuela to sabotage the political and electoral climate
", two months before the elections intended to renew the unicameral Parliament.
Nicolas Maduro regularly accuses the Colombian president of allying with the United States in order to "
plot
" to overthrow him.
Venezuela severed relations with its neighbor in February 2019 after Ivan Duque joined the nearly sixty other countries that recognize the opponent Juan Guaido as interim president.
For the Chavist power, the stake of the election of December 6 is to take back the National Assembly from the opposition, which controls it since 2015. But the legitimacy of this election is questioned on all sides.
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Juan Guaido, who chairs Parliament, called for his boycott, along with around 30 opposition parties.
According to them, the elections have no chance of being held in a fair manner since the National Electoral Council is controlled by members appointed by the Supreme Court, in the service of power.
The European Union called in vain for the postponement of the vote and the United States called it "
neither fair nor free
".