Chilean embassy in Caracas welcomed former opposition mayor Emilio Graterón as a guest

Chile on Friday welcomed at its embassy in Caracas a collaborator of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, a gesture that prompted the rejection of the Nicolás Maduro regime.

“The government of Chile reports that Venezuelan opposition leader Emilio Graterón was received as a guest at the residence of the Chilean Embassy in Venezuela “said a statement released by the Chilean Foreign Ministry.

Graterón, former mayor of the municipality of Chacao, in Caracas, He is accused by the Maduro regime of having encouraged acts of violence that took place between July 7 and 8, when criminal gangs attacked security forces and civilians with weapons of war.

“The decision of the government of Chile follows a request from the leader of the opposition Juan Guaidó and its aim is to provide protection to this person, who is suffering political persecution by the regime of Nicolás Maduro, ”added the Chilean text.

For its part the Venezuelan regime rejected the decision of the Chilean government, considering that it contributes to “whitewash the violence suffered by the population of Caracas in recent weeks, by offering a welcome at its headquarters in Caracas to one of its main promoters, requested for days by the Venezuelan justice”.

Caracas accuses the Chilean government of being an “accomplice” in violent actions that have left some 22 criminals killed, four state agents fallen in action and an unknown number of civilians killed, mainly as a result of “stray bullets”, according to the Venezuelan authorities.

Graterón and another group of opponents They are linked by the Chavist dictatorship to an operation in which they claim that “Colombian paramilitaries” participated in an assassination. a recurring accusation from Chavismo.

What happened with Graterón remember the case of former deputy Freddy Guevera, a close associate of Guaidó, accused in the past of having encouraged violence in the demonstrations which demanded the departure of Maduro and left some 125 dead between April and July 2017.

After authorization to prosecute him, he took refuge in the Chilean embassy until Maduro forgave him in September 2020, But on Monday, he was arrested by agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) and charged with “treason” and “terrorism”.

The arrest of Guevara and the charges against several allies of Guaidó, recognized as interim president by fifty countries, They come in the midst of an attempted dialogue between the government and the opposition, sponsored by Norway, which is said to be based in Mexico.

According to the President of Parliament, with a Chavist majority, Jorge Rodríguez Guevara and Graterón integrated an alleged plan to assassinate Maduro with “four drones” on June 22 during an act in Carabobo (north).

“They have to go to jail,” Rodríguez said Tuesday after appointing several opposition leaders.

(With information from AFP)