Guaidó was photographed with narco-paramilitaries on the border between Colombia and Venezuela

Wilfredo Cañizares, director of the Progresar Foundation in Norte de Santander, a human rights organization, said Thursday that opposition MP Juan Guaidó had crossed the Colombian-Venezuelan border with help Colombian paramilitary group "Los Rastrojos". dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal mining.

On his Twitter account, Cañizares published two photographs of Guaidó in which he appears surrounded by Albeiro Lobo Quintero, aka "Brother", and John Jairo Durán, known as "El Menor", both leaders of Los Rastrojos.

The history of photography dates back to February 22, when Guaidó moved to Cucuta, Colombia, to attend the "Venezuela Aid Live" concert, promoted by British billionaire Richard Branson. This despite the fact that the opponent had an order prohibiting his country, issued by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).

Guaidó, who had called himself "interim president" of Venezuela, attended the concert on the eve of the planned date to try to force many "humanitarian aids" into his country from the Colombian border.

The pbadage of Guaidó in Colombia was an enigma until this week. According to Cañizares, the entry into the Colombian territory of the deputy and his team was coordinated by Los Rastrojos, who set up a collection operation and then left it in the hands of officials in Cúcuta.

According to Cañizares, the inhabitants of the community denounced the fact that the paramilitaries forced them to lock themselves in their homes for 24 hours until the arrival of Guaidó in Agua Clara, in the rural area. of Cucuta, and were arrested by officials of the Colombian mayor's office.

Alias ​​'el Menor', one of the men with whom Guaidó is portrayed, was captured last July by the Colombian authorities of the municipality of Puerto Santander, in possession of "d & # 39; military uniforms, weapons and grenades without permission to wear it or keep it ", the Cúcuta police informed on his occasion.

The photograph published by the authorities about 'El Menor & # 39; coincides with the physical characteristics of the man who accompanies Guaidó in the images taken in February.

Network controversy

The appearance of the photo was not long in igniting the debate on social networks in Colombia and Venezuela, not only because of their content, but because of the treatment of this information by the media .

Twitter users have openly criticized the "focus" of some Colombian newspapers, describing the photographs as "uncomfortable" or "controversial", or simply omitting information linking Guaidó to this narco-paramilitary group.

Politicians like the former left-wing presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, questioned the photo and wrote: "If a senator from the Republic of Colombia were in this photo, he would immediately be sued by the Supreme Court of Justice ".

Members of the Guaidó press team admitted the veracity of the photo, but badured that the MP did not know who the people with whom he was represented were: "if he had known that these characters are what they are, he would not have given them the photo "said Alberto Ravell, communications officer of the opposition MP, during an interview with W Radio.

The images are known in times of great tension between Colombia and Venezuela, after Nariño accused Miraflores of protecting FARC armed dissidents and ELN guerrillas extinguished on their territory and used this argument to demand the activation of the organ. the Inter-American Reciprocal Assistance Treaty (TIAR), to which Caracas dissociated itself in 2013.

For this reason, the questions addressed to the Colombian government did not fail on Twitter, which earned Guaidó Thursday to be his only valid interlocutor to calm the fiery speech that she has against Caracas, despite the request of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to seek dialogue between the two countries.

The senator from the Paloma Valencia Democratic Center, from the same party as President Iván Duque, was consulted for the photographs and defended the alleged ignorance of the opposition MP about the identity of the men with whom he had asked the question: "The question is whether Juan Guaidó knew, because Are you approached by someone and say:" Take a picture "(…) You do not know who is who," he said during an interview.

Similarly, Valencia has stated that "Los Rastrojos" is a group of drug traffickers but "they are not paramilitaries" after having denied Petro's accusations of having considered them as an attempt to legitimize "those who kill on behalf of from the left ". Guaidó, on the other hand, still does not pronounce.

RT