Venezuela's Parliament chairman Jorge Rodriguez Sunday presented new evidence that shows the involvement of opposition extreme right-wing figures Leopoldo Lopez and Juan Guaido in the failed Gideon operation to commit terrorist acts in the Bolivarian nation in May last year.
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Rodriguez announced the arrest of former armed forces Captain Juan Gutierrez who was part of the paramilitaries contingent set to invade Venezuela on May 3, 2020.
Gutierrez confessed that Lopez recruited him in "Ramo Verde" prison to carry out acts of destabilization. He added that Colombia's President Ivan Duque provided support to the camps arranged in Colombian territory where he and other mercenaries received training.
Rodriguez condemned the attitude of former Spain's Ambassador Jesus Silva who offered diplomatic refuge to Lopez. The Spanish embassy was used to maintain communication between Lopez and drug trafficker Elkin Lopez, alias Double Wheel who provided direct support to the terrorist operation.
"All the crimes, all the resources that were made available for the training of deserters, terrorists in Rio Hacha, Maicao, and La Guajira were all planned with Jesus Silva's complicity. What does the Spanish Government have to say about this?" Rodriguez stressed.
Pointing out that the Gideon operation had 300 men supported by the U.S and Colombia, Aranguren unveiled that drug traffickers commanded by Lopez were the ones who tortured and murdered journalist Ricardo Duran in 2016.
Rodriguez also announced that intelligence bodies captured a subject who intended to perpetrate a terrorist bombing at the Parliament headquarters.
Besides President Nicolas Maduro's assassination, the Gideon operation planned to attack several State security forces headquarters and take over the Simon Bolivar International Airport in the capital Caracas.