Ex boss of the Sebin is in the USA: "Maduro is the head of a criminal enterprise"

[Warlock-]

 

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the former head of Venezuela's Intelligence Services (Sebin), who left Chavez lines and spent two months hiding and protected by security forces in Bogotá, Colombia, arrived in Washington on Monday. Figuera, 55, said in an interview with The Washington Post that he does not regret turning against his boss, the president in dispute in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. "I'm proud of what I did," he said last week from a hotel room in downtown Bogota. "For now, the regime brought us a brunette, but that can change quickly." Figuera was an exceptional witness of what happens in the Miraflores Palace. He arrives in the United States with key information about issues such as the illegal gold business, the supposed operation of Hezbollah cells operating in Venezuela and the Cuban influence in Venezuelan politics. The Post told details in an exclusive 12-hour interview. He explained how and why it was officially separated from Chavez on April 30, during the failed uprising organized by the president in charge Juan Guaidó. "I owe a great debt to the people who are still in jail," said Figuera, holding back tears. "People who died family and could not see them, that breaks me," he told the American newspaper. He even admitted that "there are a lot of people there who are innocent, and I have a debt to them, they did not do everything they could, I thought at some point that I could sensitize Maduro," he said. "I could not," he said.

Figuera told the Post how he went from the other side of the fight, after meeting at the end of March 28 with César Omaña, a 39-year-old doctor and businessman born in Venezuela, who entered the SEBIN office tower with the mission to recruit your boss. Omaña, based in Miami, was living in the middle of two worlds, the newspaper reports. He was a close friend of one of Chavez's daughters and other high-ranking officials loyal to Maduro, as well as key members of the opposition. Unlike other Venezuelan businessmen involved in the conspiracy, he has not been prosecuted for crimes and does not have US sanctions. against him. He was also disturbed by the collapse of the country under Maduro, had been in contact with American officials and had established regular contact, including growing friendship, with opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, the most famous political prisoner in Venezuela and mentor of Guaidó. "I told him: 'tell me something I do not know'," said Figuera, referring to the dialogue in which Omaña began to talk about the opposition plan that was still under construction. "We're talking about South Africa and Mandela, and eventually we're talking about an initial plan, a law of reconciliation, convincing Maduro to leave." "I told him I was ready to see Maduro leave," said Figuera. "And that's when the conspiracy began."

Figuera said that after his meeting with Omaña, he felt a ray of hope. He had worked for years in military intelligence. But his new job as head of the Sebin, he said, had opened his eyes to the reach of rot within the Maduro government. "I never saw the situation in the country and the corruption of the government as closely as I saw it in my last six months," he said. "I understood that Maduro is the head of a criminal enterprise, his own family is involved." Figuera said that he had begun to investigate a company created by an assistant of Maduro's son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, who is 29 years old. He had established a monopoly by buying gold from artisanal miners in the south of the country at skinny cow prices, to sell it at high prices to the Central Bank. Figuera was prepared to take the information to Maduro but, he said, an officer close to the president recommended him not to do so. The former head of the Sebin said he had verified cases of money laundering involving the then vice president Tareck El Aissami, who is now Maduro's minister of industries and has been sanctioned and blamed in the United States for drug trafficking. The Aissami has publicly denied the allegations and the Post said it could not confirm Figuera's claims independently. Figuera said he obtained intelligence that indicated irregular groups were operating in Venezuela under the government's protective arm, including members of the Colombian guerrilla group ELN, active in mining areas in the southern state of Bolívar, promising to provide a first line of defense in case of an invasion of Venezuela. He said he got intelligence that Hezbollah had operations in Maracay, Nueva Esparta and Caracas, apparently linked to illicit businesses to finance operations in the Middle East.

Figuera said that Maduro trusted his personal security in 15 to 20 Cubans and had three Cubans, who he named "psychologists", who were special advisers who analyzed his speeches and the impact on the public. He explained that he used to meet with Maduro several times a week, but when he requested a private meeting this year he understood that he had to go through "Aldo", a Cuban. "And I said, 'Is that what?' I am your intelligence chief and I have to go through a Cuban to be able to meet with him?" He recalled. He even said that a meeting in the days when the country was turned off during extensive power failures was interrupted by a telephone call from former Cuban President Raul Castro. He said that when the call ended, Maduro seemed relieved that Castro had promised to send a team of Cuban technicians to help solve the problem: "Raúl was like an advisor to Maduro," said Figuera. "If I was at any meeting, I could be interrupted if Castro called." Maduro's nervousness Figuera told the Post that he described the situation in the country in April as deplorable and urged him to hold elections: "He called me a coward, a Derrotista," Figuera said. "That was the breaking point, I had to act." He described the plan of the May 1 uprising, according to which the powers of the National Assembly would be recognized, on the part of high-ranking officials such as the Minister of Defense, Valdimir Padrino, who is still standing next to Maduro. The measure would have forced the exit of Maduro. According to Figuera, the conspirators put names in code. Figuera, an Afro-Venezuelan, was the "Black Panther." Omaña was "Superman". Mauricio Claver-Carone, the director for Latin America of the National Security Council, was "Comeniños." He said that on April 27, he met with Padrino at his house. "It was a short conversation." Figuera said he called Padrino the next day to assure himself that the defense chief was still willing. But Godfather was watching the movie "Avengers: Endgame" at the movies, he said, and "I did not want to talk." According to Figuera, Padrino was conspiring for the uprising that ultimately proved unsuccessful. He even said he was aware of the schedule and the changes. In reference to Maduro, he said that in those days "he was very nervous (...)" He asked me again and again: 'what is happening?' ". Shortly after, he said, he was warned that he should surrender.

Figuera's wife, Barbara Reinefeld, was in Miami and told him to cross the border, not to turn himself in. Reinefeld had been contacted previously by two people who said they were from the FBI, during a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. They interviewed her, she told the Post, and they provided her with a covert communication system. Figuera blessed the direct channel, he said, but he did not personally have direct communication with the Americans. Godfather and other officers loyal to Maduro have publicly claimed that they were not part of the conspiracy. Two days after April 30, Padrino, next to Maduro, seemed to suggest that the opposition had tried to "buy" them. Sanctions imposed by the United States on Figuera were withdrawn shortly after his arrival in Colombia. Figuera told the Washington Post that his first meetings and interrogations with officers have been complicated. He has recognized Guaidó as legitimate president, but he is still, from the heart, a Chavista. that he regrets some of his actions, but not all, under him. "If I told you that I am Mother Teresa of Calcutta, you would not take me seriously, I would be suspicious," he said.