The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, considers that Aída Merlando is being used, congressman fugitive in Venezuela, to force him to resume relations with the government of Nicolás Maduro.
In an interview with Caracol Radio, the Colombian head of state said: “I have never had a tail of straw, that’s why I get close to the candles. When do they capture Merlano? In April 2018. When do the authorities intervene? In the parliamentary elections of 2018. After they take her to court sanction, she evades the sanction and goes to Venezuela, what a curiosity, where we did not have a relationship.”
“If she has something to say, let her say the day, place and time where she had a meeting with me. Let her say it, because she can’t say it, she doesn’t have it, “she explained regarding Merlano’s accusation once morest her, she reviewed Time.
“What it has to do? Surrender to the authorities, say what you have to say. If she has to come and tell the truth, let her do it, she serves Colombia, but let her give herself up without excuses because she eluded the Supreme Court of Justice, ”she assured.
Duque also said: “Mrs. Merlano was flown to the Supreme Court, not to me, she was flown to the judicial authorities. The same thing that she is doing in Venezuela, she can do here. The National Assembly also made the request to the judicial authorities and they have not wanted to send it, because they want to use it as a blackmail tool so that Colombia recognizes Maduro.”
Duque was categorical: “She is not politically persecuted, she is not a political prisoner. The request was made to the National Assembly there.”
Regarding relations with Venezuela, Duque explained: “When I became president, Colombia had been without an ambassador in Caracas for regarding two years. In May 2018, my predecessor ignored the results of Nicolás Maduro and it was not a unilateral act. My predecessor, in Lima, agrees to ignore. In January 2019 there are more than 60 countries that do not recognize Maduro and that recognize his legitimacy and that recognize the interim president as spokesman. Maduro threatens consular personnel and tells them that he has 48 hours to leave Venezuela and there are no conditions to return.”
“I lasted a year and a half asking the big drug traffickers and we said that in Venezuela, but no, that it was my cart. And there they fell. They were protected by groups from the Venezuelan National Force,” he said.
“We have aired this internationally to the point that the countries that recognize Guaidó see the violations where he sanctions and the regimes that sponsor these territories should be blamed,” he assured.
“In 2019, consular relations were damaged because Maduro violated these agreements. We maintained these relations when several countries did not. While the world has managed the migratory crisis situation, we, without being a rich country with many problems, present strategies for them, in which they can go for housing, health, life, ”he sentenced.