The government of Luis Arce denied on Thursday that the state-owned Bolivian Aviation Authority (BoA) had moved local military personnel to Venezuela to support the Venezuelan government in the face of social protests following the presidential elections in the Caribbean country, as denounced by opponents of both nations.
In statements to the media, Bolivian Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo responded to a complaint by opposition deputy José Ormachea, of Comunidad Ciudadana (CC), who the day before claimed to have information about the alleged diversion of a BoA flight to transport Bolivian soldiers to Caracas.
According to Novillo, the state airline has assured that the flight did not deviate and complied with “the specifications defined in the rules of international navigation,” within the route between the eastern city of Santa Cruz and the Venezuelan capital that it covers since October 2023.
“This flight was a normal flight, it was a flight complying with its itinerary within national and international regulations and there was no deviation,” he said.
He also said that it is “false, completely deceitful and defamatory to say that Bolivian soldiers have travelled to Venezuela on that plane,” as the Venezuelan opposition has denounced.
The minister explained that the movement of troops to another country, which would entail an “armed military operation”, must be previously authorized by the national legislature, and the travel of military personnel on other types of missions, such as academic ones, is authorized “by ministerial resolution.”
Novillo “categorically” denied that the country’s military had “gone to Caracas on the dates they have indicated.”
On Wednesday, Ormachea told the media that he had received a complaint from “Venezuelan opposition figures” who had noticed “that a flight that normally flies the Santa Cruz-La Paz route on Tuesday had been diverted to Caracas.”
“Who are they taking there? Venezuelan opposition figures have reported to me that they could be Bolivian military personnel who are going to help the repression of dictator Maduro,” said the parliamentarian.
Ormachea demanded that BoA and the Arce Government clarify this complaint and whether these soldiers were going to “help the persecution of the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro against the Venezuelan people who want peace and democracy.”
Thousands of citizens affiliated with the Venezuelan opposition have been protesting since Monday against the result of the presidential elections announced by the National Electoral Center (CNE) of that country, described by the opposition as “fraud.”
The victory that the CNE of Venezuela gave to President Nicolás Maduro with 51% of the votes over the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia (44%) has been questioned by both the opposition and by most of the international community, which demands transparency and the publication of the voting records.
President Arce congratulated Maduro on Sunday for his announced victory, while Bolivian opposition leaders expressed “their indignation” at considering that with his congratulations, the president “compromises Bolivia in the fraud and lies” of the Venezuelan president.
Peace / EFE
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2024-08-02 22:02:03