"It's a titan, a hero": Duke comes out in defense of Guaidó

[Akrapovic]

The Colombian president put his hands in the fire for Juan Guaidó after the appearance of the photographs in which he meets alleged members of Los Rastrojos.

Amid the controversy over the photos in which the self-proclaimed president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, appears with alleged members of the Los Rastrojos criminal gang, President Iván Duque came out in defense of the political leader, whom he described as “hero”.

“Beyond if there is a photo or no photo, whether or not he greeted many people, what I want to highlight is who he is: he is a titan, a hero who is fighting for democracy in his country, a man who has had the gallantry of facing a dictator who has persecuted his family, his wife, "he said during his visit to the Pumarejo bridge in Barranquilla.

As for the entrance of Guaidó to Colombia, President Duque said that once he was in the national territory "we welcomed him, and the protection". Duke did not refer to the veracity of the photographs disseminated - in the first instance by Diosdado Cabello, the second in command in Venezuela - or to the identity of those who appear in the image.

Duke decided to pronounce himself right after Guaidó spoke to the press and gave explanations. According to his version he was not "aware of these two photos in particular" because during the border crossing he took "thousands" and that is why it is "difficult to discriminate who asks for a photo".

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“I have no knowledge of what was happening on the day of the Colombian side crossing, but I am sure that that day we crossed no less than 11 blocks on the Venezuelan side. You have to pass several river points, you even have to go down because of the complicated part of the passage, not only did they ask us for photos at many points, ”he told Blu Radio in an interview.

This cloak of doubt about the self-proclaimed interim president has had an international echo. And it is that those who accompany him in the photo would be John Jairo Durán Contreras, aka Minor, and Albeiro Lobo Quintero, aka Brother, both held by Colombian authorities since last June.

"Did the government of Iván Duque know that these drug-trafficking paramilitaries of the Rastrojos group were going to be the honor guards of this Guaidó citizen? (...) an investigation against Guaidó for his alleged involvement with Los Rastrojos, because he believes they helped him cross the border.

The Colombian government's support for Guaidó is one more letter played by President Duque, who has been one of his main supporters in the region against the Venezuelan regime. However, it does so after explanations by Guaidó that they have not been clear enough about how it crossed the border.