"I saw my newborn son die in 15 minutes": the first soldiers who deserted on February 23 explained why they had dared to leave Maduro

(The moment when three Venezuelan soldiers attack a barricade, surrender their weapons and desert in Colombia)

The simple house on a bumpy street in this city, on the brisk border between Venezuela and Colombia, has become a refuge for the homeless: 40 Venezuelan soldiers who left their posts and fled to save their lives.

Young soldiers from National GuardI sleep on thin mats on the floor. Several bulletproof vests rest along a wall in one of the chambers. On a balcony, the wet boots on the muddy Táchira River are sun dried.

"I was already tired of seeing the city consider me as one of them," said Sergeant Jorge Torres, referring to the socialist government of President Nicolás Maduro. And it is not like that. "

A bold plan from the Venezuelan opposition aimed at getting humanitarian aid into the country failed on Saturday, when troops loyal to Maduro refused to enter trucks with food and medicine. . More than 270 uniformed personnel, mostly low ranks, fled within three days, Colombian immigration officials said Monday.

With no family in Colombia, dozens of people went to a shelter run by a priest. Housing is the place where sadly the traces of their family members are found, seeking asylum and what their next steps will be.

"Unfortunately, as the Venezuelan people know, the government intervenes only in a direct way," said Sergeant José Gómez, a father of two. "The only ones who have this power are the international countries."

In interviews with the Associated Press, nine soldiers of the National Guard They described the day their commanders ordered them to stop the entry of humanitarian aid to Venezuela. For fear of being imprisoned, many executed orders and confessed to throwing tear gas at protesters. Two of them said that they were part of a failed plot to introduce supplies. All fled after last minute unplanned decisions and only with their uniforms.

"Son, if it's for your life and for that to change, do it," remembers Gomez, whom his father had said during a brief telephone call before traveling to Colombia.

The desertions are taking place as Venezuelan opposition lobbies the armed forces for them to recognize the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, as the legitimate president of the nation. Traditionally, the Venezuelan army has served as an arbiter in political disputes, forcing dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez to leave his post in 1958. But the military hierarchy remains firm on the side of Maduro, who did not showed no sign of renunciation of power.

Although Guaidó proposed an amnesty for the military posts that support him, the lower-ranking soldiers who fled stressed that it was almost impossible to leave Maduro.

Anyone who shows any sign of disapproval risks being arrested, he said, and prison has become increasingly synonymous with torture. same Those who, like Gómez, wanted the help to come from within, followed orders to repress the citizens. As the situation tightened on Saturday, protesters threw stones and incendiary bombs. Gomez explained that he had launched tear gas to protect them.

Other people in the house also have signs of resistance that they faced that day: Torres still has blood under his skin after the protesters kicked him after his death. to be returned to the Colombian authorities. A young woman had a scratch on her cheek that said a stone had been thrown away.

During the clashes, pro-Maduro armed groups, known as "colectivos", opened indiscriminately and several soldiers said they feared being shot. National Guard troops have mbad control equipment, such as rubber bullets and tear gas, but they do not have regulatory weapons.

As the rest of the population faces hyperinflation that is expected to reach 10 million percent this yearThe soldiers were also informed of the unworthiness of life in Venezuela, where the severe shortage of food and medicine has led to the departure of more than three million people in recent years.

"You know that there is nothing in your house, not even a kilo of rice," said the soldier, who asked not to be identified, fearing for the safety of children that he was not safe. she left at home. "And here I fight, why?"

It's been two months, Gómez saw the death of his newborn son in just 15 minutes, because the hospital in which his partner had given birth had no oxygen for his lungs. Torres said that one of her aunts had died of cancer and that an uncle had succumbed to a curable gastric infection.

"These are the reasons that brought me to this situation," Torres said.
When Guaidó announced the help for the first time, Torres said he and three other soldiers from his barracks met and silently discussed their options. As drivers of the National Guard, they had access to armored trucks. They developed a plan to get the vehicles onto the Simón Bolívar international bridge, demolish the barricades on the road and allow opposition trucks with supplies to enter.

On Saturday morning, Torres climbed one of the white painted trucks and drove him across the bridge. Although several obstacles were removed, a woman trying to enter Colombia was also affected. She was seriously injured and was forced to stop.

He came out with his rifle in his hand, raised his arms in surrender and helped the woman to go to the ambulance. As one of the first defectors, he was quickly brought before Guaidó, who had snuck across the border into Colombia to oversee the delivery.

Torres said he had accepted his loyalty to the 35-year-old legislator, recognized as Venezuela's interim president by more than fifty countries, including the United States and many Latin American countries. "We have time to change the story," he said.

For Gómez, the turning point came when he saw another national guard in uniform being hit in the face by an incendiary bomb. Although he had severe injuries, the commanders did not call an ambulance to take him to the hospital, he added. Fearing that this would happen if he was hit by protesters, he decided to run away. "They would not do anything (for me)," Gomez said.

While jumping on one of the hundreds of illegal dirt roads that cross the porous border between Venezuela and Colombia, gunmen of "colectivos" fired in his direction, recalled Gómez. He crossed the river and crossed the undergrowth for 20 minutes. When he arrived on Colombian soil and saw the army, he raised his hands in peace. "I come to deliver me!" Shouted it.

Many feared that their wives and children could face the consequences and fear they could not make ends meet. Many of the people in uniform who fled last year were struggling to find a job and ended up making a living selling food on the street.

When asked who he had left behind, Torres said "my wife" before bursting into tears. Too excited to talk about her daughter, she could barely tell the age of the little girl with her fingers: six years old.

Almost all deserters would support foreign intervention in Venezuela and participate in combat.

Guaidó on Saturday called on the international community to consider "all solutions" to resolve the Venezuelan crisis after aid-related troubles, leaving four dead and 300 injured.

During a Monday visit to Bogota, capital of Colombia, for a meeting with regional leaders, US Vice President Mike Pence recalled President Donald Trump's warning that " all options are on the table ". but avoided speaking of any military action.

During an exchange of ideas, many of the defectors said that they felt that the best way forward was that more soldiers leave their posts and contribute to form resistance from the outside.. Some attended an intervention led only by Venezuelans, while others are convinced that this can only be done with the help of an international coalition.

All agreed that they did not consider themselves traitors but soldiers trying to restore democracy in Venezuela. "We will change the story," Torres said. "We are from history."