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Title: Venezuela Gov’t Presents Evidence of Alleged Terrorism Plots by “Foreign Paramilitaries
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URL Source: https://www.mintpressnews.com/venez ... foreign-paramilitaries/256551/
Published: Mar 26, 2019
Author: Ricardo Vaz
Post Date: 2019-03-26 09:53:02 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 193
Comments: 1
Juan Guaido’s chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, was arrested on Thursday, accused of leading a “terrorist cell.” Authorities say that Marrero was linked to to the hiring of Central American mercenaries. Venezuelan authorities have alleged that self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaido and other opposition leaders were involved in a plot to carry out acts of terrorism employing foreign paramilitaries trained in Colombia. Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez presented what he claimed to be evidence of “ultra-right plans to promote regime change.” According to Rodriguez, Venezuelan intelligence services uncovered plans to contract mercenaries from Colombia and Central America and bring them into Venezuela to execute targeted killings and acts of sabotage, adding that “at least half” of the armed groups managed to make their way into Venezuelan territory and are currently being sought. “We have identified some paramilitaries that have entered Venezuela, and we will search for them by land, sea and air,” Rodriguez told the press. Juan Guaido’s chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, was arrested on Thursday, accused of leading a “terrorist cell.” Rodriguez claimed that Marrero was the link to to the hiring of Central American mercenaries. Rodriguez went on to reveal screen captures of Marrero’s phone purportedly showing Whatsapp group conversations featuring Marrero, Guaido, Leopoldo Lopez, currently under house arrest after being convicted for inciting violence in the 2014 street protests, among other opposition figures. Rodriguez pledged that more evidence will be divulged in the coming days. The screen captures also revealed details of alleged bank accounts through which payments to the paramilitary groups were supposed to be made. One of them was in Banesco’s Panama branch. Banesco is Venezuela’s largest private bank, and Rodriguez called on Banesco owner Ricardo Escotet to inform security services whether this account exists and what movements have been made. Rodriguez indicated that Venezuelan authorities had learned of the existence of the bank accounts after notorious Russian pranksters Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetsov and Alexei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov called Guaido impersonating the president of Switzerland. The pranksters said they had identified funds belonging to President Nicolas Maduro they wished to transfer to Guaido, who readily provided the “president” with account information. Jorge Rodriguez | Venezuela Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez presented what he claimed was evidence of “ultra-right plans to promote regime change.” Photo | Presidential Press Lawyer Juan Planchart was also reportedly detained on Sunday by Venezuela’s SEBIN intelligence services, and is reportedly being held at SEBIN’s facilities in Caracas’ Plaza Venezuela. Planchart was presented in the supposed Whatsapp conversations revealed by Rodriguez as a financial intermediary. At the time of writing there has been no official confirmation of Planchart’s arrest. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro likewise divulged that a Colombian paramilitary leader, Wilfrido Torres Gomez, alias “Neco,” was captured in Carabobo State on Saturday. Jorge Rodriguez later claimed on Twitter that Torres was involved in the alleged opposition plans. US authorities reacted to Marrero’s arrest by imposing sanctions against three major Venezuelan public banks on Friday. The move followed sanctions against Venezuela’s mining sector and an oil embargo imposed in late January. There has been no reaction to the latest arrests from US officials or from Guaido and the Venezuelan opposition. Rodriguez’s revelations came as two Russian air force planes touched down at Venezuela’s Maiquetia airport on Sunday. According to reports, the planes carried equipment and around 100 servicemen, including General Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of Russian ground forces. According to a source quoted by Sputnik, the deployment represents a fulfilment of “technical and military cooperation agreements.” The Venezuelan government has yet to issue a public statement. Russia had previously sent military aircraft to Venezuela in December as part of bilateral defense accords. US officials reacted to the latest development, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on Russia to “cease its unconstructive behavior” regarding Venezuela. Florida Senator Marco Rubio called the presence of Russian troops on Venezuelan soil a “direct threat” to US national security. Last week, US and Russian authorities held ad hoc talks on Venezuela in Rome, but no concrete agreement was reached. Top photo | Charred trucks that were part of a humanitarian aid convoy attempting to cross into Venezuela sit parked on the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 23, 2019. Fernando Vergara | AP Edited and with additional reporting by Lucas Koerner from Caracas. Source | Venezuelanalysis
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
Following the major weekend development of Moscow unambiguously asserting its 'red line' concerning potential US military intervention in Venezuela, for which Russia sent a military transport plane filled with Russian troops which landed in Caracas Saturday, new satellite images reveal a major deployment of S-300 air defense missile systems to a key airbase south of Caracas. Crucially the Russian An-124 transport plane which touched down in Caracas on Saturday carried no less than Russian General Vasily Tonkoshkurov, identified as chief of the Main Staff of the Ground Forces and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces of Russia, accompanied by 99 servicemen and 35 tons of cargo. As we reported the flight came just days after a high-level meeting in Rome last week, during which Russia reiterated a grave warning to the US – Moscow will not tolerate American military intervention to topple the Venezuelan government with whom it is allied - thus it appears Russia is taking no chances with its South American ally. One of those warnings delivered directly by Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov to US “special envoy” on Venezuelan affairs Elliot Abrams is understood to have been that no American military intervention in Venezuela will be tolerated by Moscow. And just a day following the contingency of Russia troops landing in Caracas, Maduro's National Bolivarian Armed Forces have reportedly activated S-300 missiles after completing military drills that previously took place in February. The professional monitoring service Image Satellite International (or Image Sat) has published satellite imagery it analyzed, showing additional S-300 missiles that have been deployed to the Captain Manuel Rios Airbase in the Guarico state of Venezuela. No doubt, the timing of the S-300 redeployment is purposeful, meant to send a strong message to Washington, though it remains unclear just how active the Russian military will be in Venezuela. Image Sat commented on the new images: "The deployment includes five launchers and a 9S32ME multi-channel missile guidance radar (MMGR). Venezuela increases its operational readiness due to regional tension." #Followup: #Venezuela has put the #S300 into #operational readiness, after conducting drills in February 2019 (as reported previously by #ISI).#Colombia #intelligence #Satellite #military #defence #defense #MaduroRegime #Update #imagery pic.twitter.com/JerkoIcozn — ImageSat Intl. (@ImageSatIntl) March 24, 2019 Perhaps paralleling the Syria situation, this could be the start of a scenario where the greater the proxy action and threats from the United States, the more Russia will slowly intervene at the behest of Maduro. All of these developments signalling closer Russian-Venezuelan military-to-military cooperation in the face of Washington saber rattling come after three months ago the two allies held military exercises on Venezuelan soil, which the US at the time had condemned as Russia encroachment in the region. But now with a high level Russian commander on the ground, and with Russian-made S-300s under the control of Maduro forces, it is unlikely that the US will act forcefully following the failed coup attempt of the past two months. Venezuela Military Deploys S-300 Missiles Following Russian Troop Arrival
Image via AMN News 
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