'What Maduro Did Reflects The Dictatorial Nature Of His Regime,' Said US Journalist Held In Venezuela
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - As clashes along the Colombia-Venezuelan border continued Tuesday, there were other developments surrounding the continued crisis in Venezuela.
From an internationally known US journalist being held in Venezuela to US Sen. Bernie Sanders stopping short of calling Nicolas Maduro a dictator to US planes flying near the country, and interim president Juan Guaidó's impending return to Caracas.
On Monday afternoon, Univision's news anchor Jorge Ramos and his crew were detained at the Presidential Palace of Miraflores and his equipment, along with their phones were confiscated. They were held for a couple of hours and at one point were kept in a dark room, according to Ramos.
Ramos said Maduro did not like the questions he was being asked and decided to abruptly stop the interview 17 minutes after it started.
The journalist and his crew were expelled from Venezuela on Tuesday afternoon.
Upon his return to Miami, Ramos said, "Imagine what Venezuelan citizens and journalists must be going through if this is what happened to us."
"What Maduro did reflects the dictatorial nature of his regime," said Ramos from Miami International Airport.
The news of Ramos being held in Caracas broke just as 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders refused to call Nicolas Maduro a "dictator," during a CNN town hall, saying "there are still democratic operations taking place" in the country.
Ramos posted this statement on his Twitter account:
"I really want to thank the U.S. State Department and the American Embassy in Caracas for making sure that we were protected and safe in Venezuela. Their help was instrumental in our safe departure today from Caracas after being detained yesterday by the Maduro regime."
Meanwhile, off the Venezuelan coast, there has been an increased number of US military reconnaissance flights in international airspace during the last several days to gather classified intelligence about Maduro, according to two US defense officials.
On Tuesday, the interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, said he would be returning to his country from Colombia this week despite threats that exist against his physical integrity, according to the Lima Group of nations.
"The fear that we have today in Venezuela, extrapolating the matter, is that if my 21-month-old daughter gets sick, hospitals do not have any antibiotics. There are risks for exercising politics in the country, they have killed volunteers who tried to enter humanitarian aid to the national territory, but we will return this week," said Guaidó during a press conference.
The Lima Group, a regional body that seeks a political solution to the Venezuelan situation, said that Guaidó and his family's lives are at risk upon returning to Venezuela, and Maduro would be held directly responsible if anything should happen to them.
"Any violent action against Guaidó would lead to an international situation that would force a collective response," said Carlos Holmes Trujillo, Colombia's foreign minister.
Border remains closed:
Over the weekend, violence broke out when the Venezuelan military blocked aid convoys at the country's border.
In the state of Tachira, along the border with Colombia, more than 300 people were hurt in clashes that involved firearms, said the Venezuelan government's special envoy for Tachira state, Freddy Bernal.
He said the attacks were conducted by irregular groups backed by Maduro's government on the international bridges along the border between Venezuela and Colombia -- the Simon Bolivar bridge in San Antonio and the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge in Ureña.
"We registered no deaths despite the violent attacks for more than 15 hours of battle" by groups on the international bridges fighting "against thousands of patriots who fought and defended themselves," he said.
On Saturday, Maduro and his wife danced on stage while trucks full of humanitarian aid were being burned by Maduro's forces.
Maduro was holding a rally attended mostly by hundreds of his military, militia, Cuban agents and those who are forced to attend or lose their public sector jobs.
In other developments:
• 274 service personnel from different branches of the Venezuelan armed forces have defected to Colombia, Migración Colombia, Colombia's immigration agency, said in a statement Monday evening. Members of the national police, national guard, army and navy are among the defections, the statement said.
• The US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions against four Venezuelan governors aligned with Maduro, effectively freezing their assets in the United States. The sanctions were imposed on these governors: Omar Prieto of Zulia, Rafael Lacava of Carabobo, Ramon Carrizalez of Apure and Jorge Garcia Carneiro of Vargas.
• More than 150 Venezuelan security forces have defected to Colombia in the last 48 hours, according to Colombia's customs agency, Migration Colombia. Immigration officials said 146 Venezuelan forces entered through the department Norte de Santander and 10 entered through Arauca.
• The Brazilian president's office said two trucks carrying humanitarian aid that had crossed into Venezuelan territory from Brazil turned back around on Sunday. Citing "the impossibility of continuing into Venezuelan territory as planned," the vehicles returned to the Pacaraima area of Brazil, a news release said.
• The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a warning to US pilots about flying into and out of Venezuela because of "continued political instability and increasing tensions."
• The United States requested that the UN Security Council to discuss Venezuela on Tuesday.
• UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for the end of violence in the Venezuelan conflict, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric said Monday. "It's very important for him that in no circumstances lethal force should be used against demonstrators," Dujarric said.
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