Venezuelan National Guard said it had arrest two alleged members of a Colombian paramilitary band known as Los Rastrojos in Zulia state.
The Nicolas Maduro regime has repeatedly accused National Assembly President Juan Guaido of being tied to Los Rastrojos, supposedly a right-wing paramilitary band that opposes Colombian left-wing groups such as the FARC renegades and ELN.
The brigadier-general commanding the unit that detained the alleged irregulars, Bladimir Lugo, was sanctioned by the U.S Treasury Department after assaulting an opposition lawmaker in 2017. That same year, Attorney General Luisa Ortega (now in exile) charged Lugo with Human Rights violations.
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The guards from Detachment 116 operating out of Casigua El Cubo, detected the two irregulars in the La Unión section of the El Guayabo township in the Catatumbo municipality, south of Maracaibo Lake.
Lugo said the arrests took place after an “intelligence and control” operation and identified the prisoners as Ender Alfonso Socorro Molero (24) and Cano Daniel González Gonzalez (22). Lugo said the men were Colombian, even after admitting that they carried no IDs.
A Colt M-4 5.56 rifle with two clips and 150 rounds and a 9 mm pistol with one clip and 14 rounds was found on the men, Lugo said, as well as a radio, military garments, and a blue Chevrolet Silverado truck.
The Attorney General’s office, now headed by a Maduro ally, has started investigations, Lugo said.
