Ecuador is the new hub for attacks on Venezuela – Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces on Venezuela and beyond

“The coup plotters are having a hard time now in Colombia because they don’t have a government that works with them,” said Venezuela’s interior minister.

Ecuador is emerging as the new bridgehead for terrorist plans against Venezuela. This was reported by the Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, during his participation in a special interview broadcast by Telesur and VTV on Saturday, September 14.

Cabello made the revelation as he expanded on details previously provided in a press conference about the arrest of foreign operators who came to Venezuela with the intention of assassinating figures such as President Nicolás Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. Cabello’s name is also on the “kill list.”

The decision to center operations in Ecuador is based on the fact that Colombia has not been as willing to participate in the overthrow of President Maduro since President Petro came to power. However, Colombia still hosts at least seven U.S. military bases and agents continue to use them, but to a lesser extent.

After stressing that Ecuador is “…the kingdom of drug trafficking and paramilitarism at every level,” Cabello noted that “Nieto Quintero” lives in that area. He was referring to Javier or Juan Carlos Nieto Quintero, two brothers involved in the failed Operation Gideon in May 2020.

Earlier, Cabello had named Iván Simonovis, a far-right operator and fugitive from Venezuelan justice, as an arms dealer who negotiates with mafias across the Americas and is also involved in the new mercenary plot. “He has made his whole life from arms trafficking,” Cabello added.

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Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gómez was named by Cabello Rondón early the previous afternoon as a key CIA agent charged with advancing mercenary and terrorist plans. His arrest was made possible by a follow-up operation, which was planned based on processed intelligence hints.

Cabello said: “We started looking for telephone connections and he was captured in the mountainous area between La Victoria and Colonia Tovar, in the state of Aragua.” He also pointed out that the man had entered the country twice: once in March and again on July 14 of this year. He traveled between Venezuela and Colombia.

“From the moment he arrived in Venezuela, he started making contact with politicians. He started making contact with people from organized crime groups, which the United States itself says have entered its territory, such as El Tren de Aragua, Tren de los Llanos“, said the minister.

He stated that Castañeda Gómez was responsible for leading the operation that criminal gangs had planned in collaboration with the Venezuelan far-right opposition and that began on July 28, the day of the presidential election in which Nicolás Maduro won the majority of the vote. Cabello added: “On July 28, 29 and 30, I was monitoring the developments around the Miraflores Palace with the alias ‘El Flaco’, and I controlled in real time during the operation.” He then showed a screenshot of the confiscated phone, which contained the following messages: “We are active. We are even going to kill the dog. We will see what happens tonight. They have already announced that Maduro has won. Venezuela is going to ignite. I see that Caracas is a hotbed. It has become a war zone. People with weapons must organize and launch a great offensive. Many innocent people will die, but to achieve the result that the country deserves; there is no other way.”

“This is the first time we can say we have captured an officer from the United States Army, in this case the United States Navy, who led such an operation,” Cabello said.

He reiterated that the American agent had contacted a Venezuelan “who was in Colombia, named Deisy Jugles González, who was detained. She was the partner of a very high-ranking man of the Aragua trail gang that was murdered in Colombia… She served as a link to connect him with criminal gangs here in Venezuela.

Cabello added: “(He is a) very high-level operator. He talks about active participation in these plans. In his phones, in the conversations, there are the contacts he has had.”

Spain’s reaction was expected
After Saturday’s press conference, the Spanish government denied that José María Basoa Valdovinos and Andrés Martínez Adasme, who were captured at Puerto Ayacucho airport, in the state of Amazonas, have any links to Spain’s National Intelligence Center. This was announced by Spanish media outlet Radiotelevision Española on its website. When asked about it, the Venezuelan minister said that he had already predicted that the European nation would distance itself from the violent plans: “It was foreseeable, we had said earlier in the press conference that Spain would come out and say that they have nothing to do with it.”

Cabello revealed that the Venezuelan government “has received first-hand information where someone says he was contacted by the CNI and gives us the full plan.”

“When they were arrested, at first they didn’t say anything, but then they admitted that they were from the CNI intelligence agency,” Cabello added.

“These people confess to their active participation. They have connections with Castaneda, with far-right political groups in Venezuela and criminal gangs in Venezuela,” Cabello continued.

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Cabello noted that this intelligence service has several French nationals among its personnel in Venezuela. “What has been said and reported is only part of the complete set of information that we have collected. The CNI knows that we have more information,” he said. One of their goals was to take control of the Simón Bolívar International Airport, a goal similar to that of Operation Gideon, he recalled.

Venezuela’s interior minister also mentioned the case of Czech citizen Jan Darmovzal, who had ties to a mercenary group known as AZ Command. Cabello showed an image of a notebook with what appeared to be a manual for torture procedures. He also noted that Darmovzal had ties “to what happened here in Venezuela on July 28, 29 and 30.”

Minister Cabello noted that although the plot has not been completely dismantled and the threat remains active despite the significant blow dealt by Venezuelan intelligence services, “For them, this problem with the (400) machine guns is a very serious setback. Now comes the stage of desperation. Claiming that they have nothing to do with it is a sign of that desperation.”

(Diario VEA) by Ildegar Gil and Yuleidys Hernández Toledo

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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