CARACAS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2020) Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said that a boat incursion from Colombia, which was thwarted in early May, was plotted by the country's opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who had been hiding at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas for over a year.
On May 3, Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said that Colombian mercenaries had tried to invade the northern state of La Guaira on speed boats on Sunday morning. Eight militants were killed, and two others captured in the counteroperation. Among those detained was an agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the Venezuelan authorities. The Colombian Foreign Ministry has denied any involvement of the country in the alleged attack.
"All the planning elements that led to the armed military invasion were planned at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas," Rodriguez said in an address to the government.
The minister noted that the Spanish ambassador must have been aware of Lopez's plans.
"Does the Spanish government know that Leopoldo Lopez continues to hold videoconferences for the sole purpose of realizing his plans for the assassination of President Nicolas Maduro? Does this seem normal to the Ambassador of Spain?" Rodriguez noted.
Leopoldo Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2015 for having a role in the 2014 violent protests, which claimed the lives of over 40 people. Since summer 2017, he was held under house arrest until Venezuelan opposition activists freed him on April 30. Upon the escape, Lopez with his family first took refuge in the Chilean embassy in Caracas, and later they relocated to the Spanish ambassador's residence in the Venezuelan capital.
In May of last year, Lopez joined the opposition's fresh coup attempt. Later, a court in Caracas issued an arrest warrant for Lopez, revoking his house arrest for "gross violation" of its conditions. Madrid, in turn, has stated that he will not hand the politician over to Caracas, voicing hope for the respect of the immunity of the ambassador's residence.
