In three years, the Venezuelan defense minister went from pledging the FARC’s expulsion to justifying it

In statements demonstrating their clear defense of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), ignoring the presence of those Colombian guerrillas in Venezuelan territory and perhaps trying to justify that this irregular group, as well as the National Liberation Army (ELN), live on the border, the Minister of Defense of Venezuela, Commander in Chief Vladimir Padrino Lópezhe said in a statement to the transmitter Telesur that the government of the neighboring country did not respect the peace process signed by former President Juan Manuel Santos.

The military chief stated many times to be internal to the armed forces dissatisfaction with the presence of the guerrillas on Venezuelan territory and he even made a heated speech when the ELN murdered three National Guard sergeants in Amazonas in November 2018: Alfredo Antonio Zolano Guevara, Robert José Artahona Díaz and José Jean Pierre Martínez Bolívar.

On that occasion, Padrino, surrounded by soldiers standing up to cheer him and in clear allusion to the guerrillas, assured: “Criminal, drug dealer, whatever his name, we’re going to find him and we’ll throw him out of the country. They have no room in VenezuelaUnderstand, we’re going to get you. We go for you. This shed blood is not going to last, we are going to defend the honor of our soldiers, of our national guards of our Bolivarian national force. We are not going to repeat it. Outside of VenezuelaSince the Colombian government does not want to talk to us, neither to the Secretary of Defense, nor to the Secretary of State, we are going to do what we have to do militarily. We do not renounce the offensive, the offensive power to enforce our sacred, Bolivarian sovereignty ”.

But that was in November 2018. Two years later, Luis Felipe Ortega Bernal, aka Garganta, third commander of the Domingo Laín Sáenz Front and head of the unit that killed the three Venezuelan soldiers, walked freely and smiled through the main entrance of the Ramo. Verde prison, without justice for the three murdered National Guard officials.

On May 19, 2019, after the Operational Strategic Command (Ceofanb) captured 4 Colombians with a large amount of military weapons, Padrino said: “Venezuela must maintain its military presence on the border; the incapacity and failure of the Colombian government in controlling its armed groups in connection with the production and trafficking of drugs, of which the Venezuelan people have been victims for decades, is evident ”.

The new godfather

The speech that the military chief had sustained changes drasticallyHe went from pledging to expel the guerrillas, paramilitaries and criminal gangs from the territory to justifying the FARC. It is clear why during all these years Godfather’s promise to drive the irregular groups out of the area was fulfilled in dead words.

Really, none of the Venezuelan military killed by Colombian guerrillas has received justiceMany could now understand, with Padrino López’s most recent statement, that Colombia had always been right by not talking to the Venezuelan authorities, who have been in no hurry to show their condolences to the Colombian guerrillas.

Padrino says that in Colombia they “betrayed the peace agreement, after the guerrilla groups, the FARC / People’s Army decided to give up their weapons, betrayed them, they began to live a common life, a social life in social movements; They went after one after the other and killed them. They have betrayed the peace agreement and also betrayed all their people ”.

The military chief claims not to know that on June 27, 2017, when the FARC finally finished handing over the weapons, the most monstrous traps were sealed, not only for Colombians, but also for Venezuela. They actually only delivered a little less than 10 weapons of varying scope, but they never delivered them allIn addition, they received money from the Colombian state, founded their political party FARC, won seats in parliament without anyone voting for them, and later a group of leaders brought up the guerrilla fighters again with the story of the new Marquetalia.

It was no coincidence that the FARC’s dissent led it Luciano Marín, aka Iván Márquez, who was a peace negotiator before the agreement was signed. Also 20 of the organization’s most relevant commanders: Hernán Darío Velásquez aka El Paisa, Seuxis Paucias Hernández aka Jesús Santrich, Henry Castellanos aka Romaña, José Manuel Sierra aka Aldinever and José Vicente Lesmes aka Walter Mendoza.

With the feeling of pity the Venezuelan minister speaks of the FARC as victims, he hides that the blood of more than 11 victims of the FARC-built anti-personnel mines has remained on Colombian soil, including more than 2,000 dead, 60% of which were military personnel and police, the remaining 40% were civilians.

The Peace Agreement, whose negotiations began in early 2012, ended with its signing in November 2016, silently and without justice, leaving behind the terrifying figure, released by the United Nations, of more than 24,576 registered victims of sexual assault. with the indication that only 9 out of 100 women reported this. Sexual assault was drastically reduced, showing that sexual assault was a war strategy used by the FARC during the conflict.

Padrino is also not alluding to the thousands of deaths in confrontations, the FARC’s involvement in drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder and extortion, which also reached Venezuelan territory.

Today the guerrilla lives in VenezuelaFor a few weeks now, the national armed forces have been dealing with FARC dissidents in states like Apure and Amazonas: the ELN expands its control over the territory and the drug trade changes hands.

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