Colombia denies involvement in Venezuela coup plot

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos gives a speech during a ceremony in Veracruz, Mexico, 2014. | Photo: Reuters

On Friday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos denied his country was involved in coup plots against Venezuela, after Venezuela’s president said the plans against his government were being hatched in “Bogota, Madrid and Miami.”

"There is no plot against any government from Colombia and, of course, if learn about know something specific in this regard, I will not only condemn but act with all the strength of the law," Santos said.

In a televised address Thursday, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro once again spoke about the foiled plot, which he insisted had backing from actors outside of the country.

In October, socialist legislator Robert Serra was killed in his house by paid assassins from Colombia. Two months prior, opposition activist Lorent Saleh was deported from Colombia after trying to enroll in a military academy with false documents. Following is detention in Venezuela, authorities released recorded Skype conversations where Saleh admits to stockpiling weapons and organizing violent demonstrations, while also pleading for Colombian “training” to carry out assassinations.

The Colombian leader added that he was “concerned” about the arrest Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, who was detained Thursday after being linked in the thwarted coup plot against the Venezuelan government.

The long-time opposition figure – who was named by Saleh as having been a crucial figure in supporting violent sectors of Venezuela’s right-wing – co-authored a “transitional program” along with opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado, which was released one day before the coup was to have taken place. The opposition plan called for a disbanding of the country’s institutions, along with the privatization of Venezuela’s oil and a deregulation of the economy.

Santos also referred to Lopez, who is in jail on charges of inciting a wave of violence in the country that killed 43 people last year.

"We have expressed our hope for all the opponents' rights to be respected, we have requested the freedom of Leopoldo Lopez and in the case of Mayor Antonio Ledezma, we also hope that he can have all the guarantees in his process," Santos said.

Santos said that Colombians are interested, affected and concerned for what is happening in Venezuela "not only because it is a sister nation with a common history, with a common border of 2,200 miles, but also because nearly four million Colombians live there."

Last month, when former Colombian president Andres Pastrana met with opposition figures in Caracas, critics called Colombian leaders “hypocritical” for speaking about social issues in Venezuela. According to human rights groups, there are at least 9,000 – and as many as 22,000 – political prisoners in Colombia, in addition to constant threats on the lives of politicians and journalists by right-wing death squads.

Since 2010 Santos has held meetings in Bogota with the opposition leader Henrique Capriles, this situation has caused a tense relationship between the South American countries.

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