Golpe Azul
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Golpe Azul(English:Blue Strike), also known asOperation Jericho,was an accusation by the Venezuelan government that resulted in the arrest of several people, including the metropolitan mayor ofCaracasAntonio Ledezma.The accusation consisted in an allegedcoup d'étatplan against the presidency ofNicolás Maduro,which reportedly would take place on 12 February 2015 and would have several targets in Caracas. The name of the plan refers to the blue uniform of theVenezuelan Air Forcein which several suspects were officers.[1]
Venezuelan NGOForo Penaldeclared that the accused suspects were political prisoners and that they were convicted without evidence, and its directorAlfredo Romerodescribed the sentence as arbitrary.[1]
Based on the accusations, Antonio Ledezma was arrested in his office on 19 February bySEBINofficers. According to opposition reports,Golpe Azulwas the twelfthcoup d'étatattempt that President Maduro alleged.[2][3][4]
Plot and arrests
[edit]On 12 February 2015, PresidentNicolás Maduroannounced an alleged coup. Libertador Municipality MayorJorge Rodríguez,during a special broadcast ofCon El Mazo Dandoon state-runVenezolana de Televisión(VTV), denounced the participants of an alleged attempt planned by aviation general Oswaldo Hernández, who was convicted in May 2014 along with nine other military personnel for the crimes of rebellion and against military decorum.[5]
National AssemblypresidentDiosdado Cabelloannounced the arrests of eight people inAraguaby officials of theBolivarian National Intelligence Service(SEBIN) and the seizure of various equipment, including a computer with information on the tactical objectives of the coup group. He also showed maps allegedly located on the computer equipment of the protagonists ofGolpe Azul,where buildings appeared in Caracas that were marked as tactical objectives such as theMiraflores Palace,thePublic Ministry of Venezuela,the Caracas mayor's office, theMinistry of Defenseheadquarters, theMinistry of Interior, Justice and Peacebuilding, theSupreme Tribunal of Justice(TSJ), theNational Electoral Council(CNE), theDirectorate General of Military Counterintelligence(DGCIM) and offices ofTelesur.[6][7]
During the program, MayorJorge RodríguezaccusedNational Assemblydeputy and opposition politicianJulio Borgesof choosing the places indicated as tactical objectives. Cabello also revealed the alleged possession ofAR-15 rifles,grenades,military and security uniforms, as well as an eight-minute video with a statement from theprotagonists.According to Cabello, the bombing would be carried out with a Tucano artillery plane after publishing a statement in the national press requesting the government, among other things, the dissolution of public powers, the call for elections and the affiliation to organizations such as theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF) and later the military would issue a uniformed message where they would make a called the population to calm.
Arrest of Antonio Ledezma
[edit]
On 19 February 2015,Antonio Ledezmawas detained by theBolivarian Intelligence Serviceat his office in the EXA Tower inCaracas.In the operation, the security forces made warning shots to the air to disperse a crowd that was forming. He was then transported to SEBIN's headquarters inPlaza Venezuela.His lawyer declared that the charges for his detention were unknown.[8][9][10][11][12]
The New York Timesstated that Ledezma was arrested by the Venezuelan Government after accusations made by PresidentNicolás Maduroabout an "American plot to overthrow the government" that he presented a week before Ledezma's arrest.[13]Ledezma mocked the accusations stating that the Venezuelan government was destabilizing itself through corruption. The United States denied the accusations by President Maduro and stated that "Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent".[13]
Response to arrest
[edit]Following the news of the arrest of Ledezma, his supporters quickly created protests and called the arrest a "kidnapping" and that the coup conspiracy was created for political purposes.[13]Hours after the news broke, hundreds of Ledezma supporters gathered in a Caracas plaza to denounce his arrest.[13]Protesters also gathered outside of the SEBIN headquarters.[9]
Human rights groups quickly condemned Ledezma's arrest and the similarity of the case toLeopoldo López's arrest was noted byThe New York Times.[13]Amnesty Internationalcondemned Ledezma's arrest calling itpolitically motivated,noting the similar cases of arrests made by the Venezuelan Government in what Amnesty International described as "silencing dissenting voices".[14]Human Rights Watchdemanded his release with Human Rights Watch's Americas division director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, stating that without evidence, Ledezma "faces another case of arbitrary detention of opponents in a country where there is no judicial independence".[13][15]
Imprisonment
[edit]In March 2015, the court ordered Ledezma to be taken at theRamo Verde military jail,where he would be imprisoned before standing trial. On the same month, former socialist Prime Minister of Spain,Felipe González,agreed to take over the defense of Ledezma in his trial after Ledezma's family requested his assistance.[16]Two months later, he was sent back home for health reasons, where he had been placed under house arrest and unable to express himself publicly.[17]
On 1 August 2017, Ledezma (along withLeopoldo López) were re-arrested bySEBIN,which did not file any legal arrest warrant. According to the pro-MaduroVenezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice,it said that it had received intelligence reports alleging the two were trying to fleeVenezuela.The court also said that it had revoked Mr Ledezma's and Mr López's house arrest because they had made political statements relating to the2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election.[18]Lopez and Ledezma were sent toRamo Verde prisonand Ledezma was released back to house arrest on 4 August.[19]
Escape from house arrest
[edit]On 17 November 2017, Ledezma slipped past guards and fled toColombia.He departed the same day fromEl Dorado International AirportinBogotátoAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas AirportinMadrid,Spain.Upon landing he declared he would continue his fight of opposition to the Venezuelan Government and was reunited with his family.[citation needed]
Trial
[edit]The eight defendants, three civilians (Pedro Maury, Jesus Salazar and Luis Colmenares) and five military officers of theVenezuelan Air Force(Ricardo José Antich, Luis Lugo, Peter Moreno, Carlos Esqueda, Henry Salazar and Laided Salazar) were sentenced in the second military court ofMaracayon 12 January 2017. Captains Ronald Ramírez and Jackson García were witnesses at the trial.[20]
They were witnesses promoted by the Prosecutor. They were taken as experts in these aircraft to tell at the trial if these soldiers were able to fly someSukhoithat were inLara,they alone without help, to give acoup d'etat.And the answer of these two witnesses, very professional, was no, that to artillery a plane for a rebellion 14 people were needed and they were eight. They also accused the military that they were going to bomb Caracas and some buildings aboard thoseTucanoplanes and they also asked both of them. They explained that it was impossible to move those bombs in a way other than by land, and that those bombs were not inLarabut inGuárico,Zuliaand in the east. In addition, the trial showed that the planes could not be used because they had the landing gear damaged.
— Carlos Javier Salazar, lawyer of Laided Salazar, captain sentenced to eight years and seven months for crimes of instigation to rebellion and against military decorum.
On 26 December 2018, the sentence was ratified by the TSJ.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ab"Condenaron a militares y civiles involucrados en el" Golpe Azul "".El Nacional. 12 January 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 24 July 2017.Retrieved8 August2017.
- ^"Detenido el alcalde Antonio Ledezma, acusado de formar parte de conspiración golpista".19 February 2015.Retrieved19 February2015.
- ^"Maduro: Ledezma fue capturado por orden de la Fiscalía y será procesado".Archived fromthe originalon 20 February 2015.Retrieved19 February2015.
- ^"Maduro manda detener al alcalde de Caracas".19 February 2015.Retrieved20 February2015.
- ^Martín, Karina (12 January 2017)."Venezuela: condenan a militares y civiles por supuesto intento de golpe en 2015".PanAm Post.Retrieved8 August2017.
- ^"Sentenciados 8 oficiales por" Operación Jericó "".Panorama. 7 May 2015. Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2017.Retrieved8 August2017.
- ^"Venezuela: Operación Jericó, el plan golpista que fue desmantelado".Telesur.13 February 2015.Retrieved8 August2017– viaYouTube.
- ^"Venezuela on the Brink".PrimePair.Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2015.Retrieved3 March2015.
- ^abSabin, Lamiat (20 February 2015)."Mayor Antonio Ledezma arrested and dragged out of office 'like a dog' by police in Venezuela".The Independent.Retrieved20 February2015.
- ^"Sebin detuvo al alcalde Metropolitano Antonio Ledezma".El Universal.Retrieved19 February2015.
- ^"Sebin se lleva detenido al alcalde Antonio Ledezma".La Patilla.Retrieved19 February2015.
- ^"Detuvieron al alcalde Antonio Ledezma".El Nacional.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-02-20.Retrieved2015-02-19.
- ^abcdefGupta, Girish; Robles, Frances (20 February 2015)."Caracas Mayor Arrested on Sedition Accusation, Plunging Venezuela into New Crisis".The New York Times.The New York Times.Retrieved20 February2015.
- ^"Amnesty International deplores actions against Mayor Ledezma".El Universal.20 February 2015. Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2015.Retrieved20 February2015.
- ^Vyas, Kejal (19 February 2015)."Caracas Mayor Detained By State Agents Antonio Ledezma, fierce critic of President Nicolás Maduro, taken away by armed agents".The Wall Street Journal.Retrieved20 February2015.
- ^Prados, Luis (23 March 2015)."Felipe González defenderá a líderes opositores presos en Venezuela".El País.Retrieved23 March2015.
- ^"Antonio Ledezma, alcalde de Caracas, cumplió dos años preso [Antonio Ledezma, mayor of Caracas, served two years in prison]".El Comercio.19 February 2017.
- ^"Venezuela key opposition leaders seized after poll".BBC.1 August 2017.Retrieved25 December2019.
- ^"Venezuela's new legislative superbody opens despite wide criticism".Reuters.4 August 2017.Retrieved25 December2019.
- ^Fernandez, Airam (18 September 2015)."Pilotos del Sukhoi fueron testigos en el caso de 9 militares acusados por operación" Golpe Azul "".Efecto Cocuyo. Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2017.Retrieved8 August2017.
- ^"TSJ ratifica condena a militares implicados en Operación Jericó".