The 1st Anti-Terrorism Court of Venezuela sentenced this Wednesday (22) 29 people for involvement in Operation Gideon, an alleged attempt to overthrow the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro, frustrated in May 2020.
According to a statement from the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office, 20 of the defendants were sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crimes of treason, conspiracy with a foreign government, rebellion, association, illicit trafficking in weapons of war, terrorism and terrorist financing.
The rest were sentenced to 21 years in prison on charges of association and conspiracy with a foreign government.
The so-called Operation Gideon reportedly took place in May 2020, when a paramilitary group allegedly attempted to overthrow Maduro’s government. The Chavistas claimed that the scheme would have the support of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, Colombia (at the time presided over by Iván Duque) and the United States, which denied participation.
“A dark episode in the country’s recent history begins to come to an end, when a group of Venezuelans, in coordination with foreign actors and powers, carried out this mercenary maritime incursion operation that sought the assassination of officials at the highest level of the Venezuelan State, including the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro: to achieve the overthrow of the national government”, wrote Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, an ally of Chavismo, in X.
Family members and human rights groups claim that the convicts are political prisoners of the Venezuelan dictatorship.
“What impotence and anger I feel at this moment, seeing the way in which Justice in the service of the regime destroys so many lives of innocent citizens”, wrote in X Franklin Caldera Cordero, director of Família SOS Liberdade, an organization dedicated to supporting Venezuelan political prisoners.
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