18/Mar/2019.- In the context of last February 23, as one of the main objectives of the US strategy, an attempt was made to encourage the desertion of the largest possible number of military personnel of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) to join the opposition , whose most visible face today is Guaidó.
It is important to highlight that this group of defectors is made up not only of Army officials and troops but from law enforcement agencies of all kinds. Some of them were previously dismissed for misconduct from those agencies and the Army.
They managed to get a small group to cross the Colombian-Venezuelan border, which was received at the time by José Manuel Olivares of the Voluntad Popular Party and other deputies. That group, at the end of this report, according to inaccurate numbers of the Colombian Foreign Ministry, numbers a thousand troops, which translates into just a minimum percentage of the approximately 230,000 troops that comprise FANB, and not counting the Militia.
They (Guaidó and co.) promised that group of deserters accommodations, hospital care and food facilities in Cúcuta and its surroundings, in exchange for placing themselves at the disposal of a false command headed by Guaidó, who returned to Venezuela without attending to these soldiers after a brief Latin American tour.
Since then, Colombians living in cities and towns of Norte de Santander near the border have reported that both deserters and members of “La Resistencia” are interrupting daily life with violent actions, an issue expressed by the mayor of Villa del Rosario municipality, Pepe Ruiz: “I ask the public force to do the respective operations to ensure the tranquility and security of the inhabitants of the border area and the people who circulate around the place on a daily basis.”
Meanwhile, from the UN, the ambassador of Venezuela, Samuel Moncada, blurted out to Elliott Abrams about the creation of a mercenary army with “Venezuelan military deserters” as a pretext for an irregular war operation, however, after this the defector contingent expressed they are “adrift and waiting for President Guaidó”, things are not happening as Washington projected.
THE ABANDONED FOR THE FUTURE
This weekend some deserters gathered to show their discontent over the situation, that group is in shelters facilitated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), one of them being the spokesman, identified as Sergeant Luis González Hernández, who told W Radio that the aforementioned agency requested the eviction of that contingent from the facilities they had lent to Juan Guaidó’s team and to Colombia.
Atención a este testimonio: militares venezolanos que desertaron el 23 de febrero y huyeron a Colombia denuncian estar “a la deriva y a la espera del presidente Guaidó”. Afirman que Acnur les exige desalojar el campamento y moverse por sus propios medios: pic.twitter.com/RlV0MdxbRi
— Misión Verdad (@Mision_Verdad) March 16, 2019
The most urgent request, aside from a response to the situation experienced by deserters, is the demand for “the presence of Guaidó, face to face” with those who would comprise his supposed private army. José Manuel Olivares and Gabriela Arellano, sent by the National Assembly in contempt to Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario “have not resolved anything” in this context. In the middle of the neglect that the Venezuelan opposition has had towards this group, whose members were explicitly exhorted to join their side, that is evident after the denunciation made by the defectors on the deaf ears of Guaidó to their requests.
Otro vocero del mismo grupo de militares venezolanos que desertaron el día 23 de febrero, exige que sus mensajes lleguen a Juan Guaidó, al que reconocen como “comandante en jefe” porque este podría “no estar enterado de su situación en Colombia”. pic.twitter.com/zAst131mSv
— Misión Verdad (@Mision_Verdad) March 17, 2019
In that sense, they ask for reciprocal loyalty from the Venezuelan opposition.
Un último vocero del grupo de más de 200 desertores de las FANB que se encuentran en Colombia, exige que “sean leales con ellos porque dejaron todo para ser leales a Guaidó”. Los militares están siendo echados del campamento de Acnur (ONU) en la frontera. pic.twitter.com/8eE7Uk2LsM
— Misión Verdad (@Mision_Verdad) March 17, 2019
Abandoned in Colombia without much assistance other than the one provided by the local authorities and UNHCR, now they seek the support of Colombian media to draw the attention of the Venezuelan opposition and the United States, since through the regular channels they do not receive a response. Due to this scandal, precipitated by the bad strategies of Washington, the Foreign Ministry of Colombia was forced, by pressure, to issue a statement on the situation of deserters. It warns that, despite having helped this contingent, the Duque government needs help from the “international community”.
Comunicado de prensa: Honrando su compromiso de solidaridad y fraternidad, Gobierno colombiano acoge a ex miembros de la fuerza pública venezolana pic.twitter.com/QfvG7DQkVM
— Cancillería Colombia (@CancilleriaCol) March 17, 2019
Having no alternatives beyond the proclamations of the Colombian Chancellery, the image projected by this situation is negligence and the abandonment of a nucleus of deserters who placed themselves at the disposal of the “parallel government”. The maneuver of Guaidó and his team unfolds in a vacuum where it often leaves the antichavista leadership in relation to its followers, who are continuously deceived, confused and abandoned by the chaotic strategy always dominated by the American establishment.
On other occasions, the opposition leadership has played with the expectations of its most reliable voters and supporters, giving hope and high possibilities to successive regime changes that fail to materialize. Since Nicolás Maduro assumed the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic in 2013, none of the coup-led scenarios promised by the anti-Chavismo have been able to materialize.
In this way, the message to vox populi that they give to the FANB is the correct one if the strategy consists in disintegrating all energy and purpose for the greater cohesion of the Venezuelan army. The change of regime, thus, looks increasingly distant, a situation at odds with the expectations so that an irregular war with effective deserters could vanish.
Source URL: Mision Verdad with OT content.
Translated by JRE/EF
