"They will torture you": former Venezuelan soldiers risk a false trip | News from the world

A a month ago, Harry Solano was a sergeant of the National Guard of Venezuela. He is now an exile who meets opposition members in hotels across the Colombian border, still scrutinizing the room to see who could hear him.

Solano was part of a splinter group within the armed forces that staged an uprising against a national guard post in Cotiza, a suburb of Caracas last month. They aimed to reach the presidential palace of Miraflores and to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.

People took to the streets to provide support and violent clashes with the police lasted days, but their attempt ultimately failed. Two dozen conspirators were arrested quickly and countless others have not been seen since that night. Maduro had clearly warned other potential dissidents: he was perhaps weakened but, for the moment, he still commanded the levers of power in Caracas.

"Normal soldiers, people like me, suffer like everyone else," says Solano. "It's the fear that keeps the ranks lower [of the military] online. Fear is created knowing that if you speak publicly, they will torture you and kill you and your family. "

Cucuta, the Colombian border town where he hides, has infiltrated spies, said Solano, accusing a man who considers him a friend. Military defectors are of particular interest to both parties in the struggle for power that currently places Venezuela on the edge.

Juan Guaidó, leader of the opposition and self-proclaimed interim president, commands the support of the United States and dozens of other countries, but he has failed to persuade the army to get rid of a sufficient number important to change the balance of power.

Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have been able to retain their senior officers by rewarding them for their services, promoting more than a thousand ranks to the rank of general, by distributing lucrative positions to PDVSA, the oil company. the state, and turning a blind eye to being alert to drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.

Guaidó and his allies are trying to defeat this support with the planned controversial delivery of humanitarian aid sent Saturday by the United States. They also try to marginalize these generals by exploiting the discontent of the soldiers at the base.

He wants to force the hand of these soldiers by offering them a difficult choice: follow their orders and deny their Venezuelan compatriots the food and medicine they so badly need, or publicly disobey Maduro. But Solano knows very well what it means to face Maduro.

Solano alleges that her niece was raped and tortured by DCGIM, a branch of military intelligence, when she was informed of her involvement in the uprising last month.

He had already started his difficult trip to Colombia, but his home was ransacked and other members of his family were arrested. A secondary business, a small shop under his house in Caracas, was fired.

"They [the authorities] are a mafia that controls people only with violence, "Solano said. "They already know that the people in their hearts are with Guaidó and must therefore resort to barbarism."

A series of defections has already occurred, but mainly among officers out of reach of Maduro. His defense attaché to the embbady in Washington announced his support for Guaidó last month and a handful of other generals have changed sides. On Thursday, a former spy chief also set his sights on the young leader of the opposition.

The mbad military exodus that so many people have been hoping for has not yet taken place, and it is not for want of trying. At the end of January, Guaidó had visited military bases throughout the country and promised the soldiers, in a letter to the officers, to grant them an amnesty if they "contributed to the restoration of order. democratic".

It is an effort reinforced by international pressure. The Trump administration – Guaidó's most important support – calls on the army to allow aid in the country and to accompany them.

"You will not find any safe harbor, no easy way out and no way out. You will lose everything, "said Donald Trump in a speech at Florida International University in Miami on Monday in front of the big American and Venezuelan flags. "We are seeking a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open," he added, reviving fears of military intervention.

Raúl Daniel Alvarenga was sergeant major of the Venezuelan army from 1997 to 2013, when he resigned in protest and fled the country.

"My escape in Colombia was like a movie," he says. It describes in detail a trip that consisted of avoiding the police and sleeping in shelters for the homeless. "It's naïve to think that people will change sides in the face of such intimidation."

Six years later, Alvarenga said that he was still living on the nerves, keeping his intelligence and his special operational skills perfected. "I'm always ready," he says. "Unfortunately, in Venezuela, if they catch you, they will torture you physically and psychologically."