Maduro offers Colombia collaboration over fugitive ex-lawmaker

VENEZUELA President Nicolas Maduro on Friday offered Colombia a new solution to an extradition conundrum over a detained fugitive ex-lawmaker.

Aida Merlano, who is Colombian, was detained by Venezuelan security forces in the northwestern city of Maracaibo on Monday after illegally crossing into Venezuela.

She was serving a 15year prison sentence in Colombia for vote-buying when she staged a spectacular escape in October, giving her guards the slip while visiting a dentist.

Colombia said on Tuesday it would submit an extradition request to Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido, since the government of rightwing President Ivan Duque doesn’t recognize socialist Maduro.

Maduro, who described the move as ridiculous, on Friday invited Colombia’s public prosecutor’s office to come to Venezuela and “interview the senator Aida Merlano.”

“The doors are open for them to come to Venezuela and she can tell them her story and say everything she knows, everything that happened to her,” he said.

Maduro had offered Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations that he broke off in February 2018, but Colombia turned him down.

The following day, Duque scoffed at Maduro “pretending to be a dove of peace.”

However, the socialist leader controls all state institutions, except the opposition-controlled National Assembly headed by Guaido.

But even that has been rendered powerless by the Maduro-controlled Supreme Court, which has annulled its every decision since 2017.

“Everything suggests that Ivan Duque will continue with his political fantasy that Juan Guaido is running Venezuela,” said Maduro Friday.

He said that if Colombia did not take up his offer, Merlano could face trial in Venezuela.

“Here there will be truth and here there will be justice,” said Maduro. Venezuela accuses Merlano of conspiring to commit a crime and using a false identity.

During a visit to a medical center in Bogota to see a dentist on October 1, Merlano managed to slip away from her escorts, climb out a window and slide down a rope, landing on the sidewalk in front of surprised passersby before escaping on the back of a waiting motorcycle.

A video of her daring escape shot by a nearby security camera went viral on social media.