Who were behind the assault on military unity in Venezuela and what were their real motivations

[Inkriql]

It was not a military uprising and an attempted coup was not what happened this week in 513 Mariano Montilla Jungle Infantry Battalion, located in the Luepa sector, in the Gran Sabana municipality of Bolívar state. What happened is that a retired officer, along with a sergeant and a small group of pemons, took the gun park and took out 112 AK 103 rifles and ammunition. Then they tried to take Command 5102, Santa Elena's Cavalry Squadron, and the commander and two subordinates were taken hostage. Lieutenant Joshua Abraham Hidalgo Azuaje's group and Sergeant Major 3 (SM3) Darwin Balaguera Rivas left in a Hilux van and a 350 truck.

In the flight they were divided. Lieutenant Hidalgo left in the van, loaded with 30 rifles. He took the commander and other officials hostage, including a soldier who was heard describing the succession of events that he participated in: “I was able to escape in San Francisco de Asís. I was able to retrieve a rifle and I couldn't do anything else. My commander managed to escape later, before arriving in San Ignacio. They recovered the armament there at the height of the Guard. But the bad news is that the lieutenant who was involved is Hernández Castillo, who had the audacity to enter with a lieutenant here who sold the Battalion. ”

Balaguera, meanwhile, boarded the 350 truck with 82 rifles; on the road he came across the control point of detachment 623 San Ignacio of the third company. The sergeant went down to talk to the guards - he had supposedly already spoken of the passage - but the events did not unfold according to his plan: an argument with a soldier turned into a shooting between them.

Faced with this situation, the driver and four national guards fled in the truck. Balaguera remained on the road and alone, which facilitated his capture. Those who remained continued towards the trails and, at the entrance to the town of Paraitepuy de Roraima, abandoned the truck. Inside were 82 AK 103 rifles, 60 40 MM grenades, 1 RPG, 1 Afag, 6 Carl Gustav and 6 ammunition boxes 7.76.

The collection of the facts illustrates that the confrontation described in the report of the GNB62 Zone Command of the Bolivar state did not exist. That document says that "Lieutenant Colonel Rengifo Armas of Detachment 623 sustained a confrontation in tracks via the Roraima sector, resulting in a detainee."

Balaguera

The sergeant major of third of the Bolivarian National Guard, Darwin Balaguera Rivas, was attached to the detachment of that component of the armed forces in San Antonio del Táchira until February 23, 2019. That day he went to Colombian territory to recognize, along with great military number, to Juan Guaidó as his commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

There he remained in one of the hotels in Cúcuta along with other soldiers who had deserted or were retired for some time.

Over time, and after the disastrous performance of the couple that Guaidó appointed to take charge of the military, Balaguera began to despair at the lack of progress towards solving the situation in the country. He left for Cali, where he disappeared a few weeks ago after being recruited by the first lieutenant of the Army, Joshua Abraham Hidalgo Azuaje. It was he who proposed the adventure of appropriating weapons in that command of the Bolivar state.

The first lieutenant Hidalgo Azuaje is an Army officer belonging to the promotion of the year 2012. He was discharged from the Armed Forces on February 24, 2018, seven months after his promotion. The vast majority of this promotion was subjected to investigations after the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) had detected that, through a chat, they were expressing their discomfort and disagreement with what was happening in the branch of the Armed Forces and that they even integrated a rebel group that called itself The Sword of God.

The idea of the so-called Operation Aurora was not inspired by First Lieutenant Hidalgo. Who was behind was a man named Andrés Antonio Fernández Soto, although mostly known for his alias: "Toñito". He was the financier of that operation and seeks to seize control of some gold mines in the area. Balaguera says he met him in Paracaima and describes him as "a gray-haired catire, about forty-two (years)."

"Toñito" ran a mine, along with a group of pemones, which was taken away by the National Liberation Army (ELN). He is well known in the area because he manages many shops in Santa Elena de Uairén and was closely related to Mayor Peilio Emilio González, whom the National Government - in a fraudulent maneuver - dismissed from the mayor's office that won in the Gran Sabana, but also from the mine.

Intelligence reports report that "Toñito" was an important element for the financing of the so-called Pemón Territorial Guard. It is believed that it would be related to Major Carlos Alberto Marcano Vásquez, who was commander of Detachment Nr. 623 of Santa Elena de Uairén and who, a few days after he was promoted, was promoted for promotion due to being involved in Operation Hands of Metal.

Balaguera said that to get from Cali to Bolivar, he went through Peru and then Brazil, a journey that took him 12 days. That is where the communication minister Jorge Rodríguez concludes that the governments of Peru and Brazil would be involved in the event.