One of the most prominent defectors in two decades of socialist rule in Venezuela is seeking revenge against President Nicolas Maduro. Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera told AP that his former boss ordered him to jail opponents and victims of torture.
In this July 2, 2019, photo, Gen. Manuel Cristopher, former head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency, poses for a portrait in Washington. In a show of nerve, he betrayed Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, the man he met with almost every day, and secretly plotted with his enemies to launch a short-lived military uprising that Cristopher says was tantalizingly close to ousting the embattled leader.
It’s unclear whether Cristopher Figuera still has influence inside the government and can collect evidence against his former comrades. But he’s talking a big game. But he said Maduro’s most-brazen order — and one of Cristopher Figuera’s biggest regrets — was his role trying to break opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s resolve by going after his inner circle.
Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez, a top Maduro aide, did not respond to a text message and email seeking comment. “This was a center of extortion and kidnapping,” he said. “I tried to change things, but there’s an entrenched culture.” “My commander in chief,” the missive begins, “I respectfully recommend that you put the political agenda before the polarization between the government and the opposition.” The letter, a copy of which he provided to the AP, references a battle from the mid-19th century civil war in which a popular general “ceded territory to the enemy to win time and then overcome his adversary.”
“I am partly responsible,” he said. “But I couldn’t grab a gun and shoot him. I didn’t want to make him a victim.”
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