Colombia says 1,000 troops fled Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — About 1,000 members of the Venezuelan security forces have fled to Colombia since last month, giving up weapons and uniforms as they abandoned the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Colombian authorities said Monday.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry released the updated number of Venezuelan police and military personnel who crossed the border, many around the time of a Feb. 23 attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaido to deliver U.S.-provided humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
The deserters have received lodging, health care and legal aid, and were accompanied by some 400 family members, Colombian officials said. Colombia, the United States and about 50 other countries support Guaido’s claim that he is the interim president of Venezuela and that Maduro is illegitimate because his re-election last year was marred by irregularities.
Jean Marchena Castillo, an army captain, told local media that pro-Maduro forces were threatening relatives of some of those who fled Venezuela. Some deserters say their small military salaries were the only source of income for their families.
Diosdado Cabello, a leading pro-Maduro politician, said in Caracas on Monday that the security forces who fled to Colombia had been offered bribes to do so. Deserters deny such allegations.
Despite the desertions, Maduro has retained the support of Venezuela’s key military leaders. Maduro alleges that Guaido is a collaborator in a U.S. plot to overthrow the government in Venezuela, the population of which is enduring hyperinflation and a scarcity of medicine and other necessities.
More than 3 million Venezuelans have fled the country in recent years, about onethird of them finding refuge in Colombia.
Nearly a week after Venezuela’s worst blackouts inflicted more hardship across the country, Maduro was said to be planning a Cabinet reshuffle. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez made the announcement on Twitter on Sunday, though she did not provide details.
U.S. and Russian officials, meanwhile, were meeting in Rome this week to discuss the crisis in Venezuela.
Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, was to hold talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday and today, the U.S. State Department said. In comments carried by Russian media, Ryabkov said, “We will do everything to protect our cooperation with Caracas.”
Moscow supports Maduro while Washington has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to push Maduro from power.
Also Monday, envoys loyal to Guaido took over two Venezuelan diplomatic buildings in Washington and the consulate in New York. Panama also accepted a Guaido loyalist as Venezuela’s ambassador.
Maduro has cut diplomatic ties with the U.S., though diplomats loyal to him are still in the United States as representatives to the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said the takeover by Guaido’s envoys was illegal and urged the United States to reverse it, saying there could be “reciprocal” actions in Venezuela if it doesn’t. It did not provide details on what those actions might be.