- Title: Venezuelan military deserters willing to return to fight Maduro
- Date: 25th February 2019
- Summary: CUCUTA, COLOMBIA (FEBRUARY 24, 2019) (REUTERS) SERGEANT JAVIER GONZALEZ AND SERGEANT KARI CASTRO - STANDING IN ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SERGEANT KARI CASTRO, SAYING: "It's hard. It's hard to go to another country after giving your life and your youth to an institution after so many years. But in support of my husband -- who was the first to come here -- I decided to go with him, to support him and having seen the whole situation, everything that is happening in Venezuela, I came here for a better future for my children." GONZALEZ STANDING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SERGEANT JAVIER GONZALEZ, SAYING: "The more National Guard (troops) that are here (in Colombia) the more they (government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro) will be left by themselves. It's unfortunate, but it has to be done this way. And if we have to line up the National Guard troops here and other components here, to plan to take back our country, then so be it. That's why we're here." GONZALEZ STANDING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SERGEANT JAVIER GONZALEZ, SAYING: "I knew that if I was taken by any intelligence body in Venezuela, I was a dead man. It would be a lie to say that I'd be alive, a lie." COUPLE BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SERGEANT JAVIER GONZALEZ, SAYING: "Venezuela has a lot to give to the whole world. Thanks to our brother country, Colombian. I know that when this changes, Colombia and Venezuela are going to both be powerhouses, both commercially and humanitarianly. Colombians are very socially friendly and we also characterize ourselves that way." VARIOUS OF OTHER MILITARY DEFECTORS MEDIA LOOKING ON
- Embargoed: 11th March 2019 16:37
- Keywords: defectors Colombia Venezuela aid clashes soldiers deserters
- Location: CUCUTA, COLOMBIA
- City: CUCUTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001A32ZEX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Sergeant Javier Gonzalez knew he would be killed if caught deserting Venezuela's military to flee to Colombia, but the thought of his nine-month-old son suffering the lack of milk and diapers in his economically devastated country steeled his resolve.
Gonzalez's wife, Sergeant Kari Castro, escaped a day later on Sunday (February 24), crossing a riverbed near the Colombia city of Cucuta with their baby and two other family members.
The couple are two of at least 167 members of the Venezuelan armed forces who have deserted and turned themselves into Colombia's migration agency over the last three days.
The desertions began Saturday (February 23), during a failed attempt by Venezuela's opposition to drive a convoy of hundreds of tonnes of international humanitarian aid into the country, despite a refusal by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to accept the food and medicine.
The support of the military is considered key for Maduro to retain his hold on the country, especially since last month, when opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency.
Shortages of basic goods and political unrest finally pushed the family to leave, said Castro, 38, who has spent half her life serving in the armed forces.
"It's so difficult to go to another country when you've given your life to an institution," she said.
Gonzalez said that since his desertion he has been in contact with former colleagues who are also willing to defect. Many in the armed forces are afraid of Maduro's intelligence forces, he said, which has reportedly tortured and killed those who go against Maduro.
The couple said they are willing to return to their home country to help Guaido wrest control from Maduro, who denies any crisis and says the aid convoys are a U.S.-backed ruse to oust him.
(Production: Efrain Otero, Geraldine Downer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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