After the news of the release of Major General Miguel Rodríguez Torres was released, his family wrote a statement thanking government and opposition leaders for the measure. They also expressed their gratitude to the United Nations Organization and the Church for insisting on mediating for their release.
Major General Miguel Rodríguez Torres, detained for five years, was released on Saturday, January 21, after the judge in the case granted him “full freedom.” The former Minister of the Interior and Justice posted a video on social media of him in which he thanked representatives of the United Nations, opposition leaders and a Maduro government official who worked for his release.
On behalf of the government, he mentioned Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the president of the National Assembly (AN) for 2020, Jorge Rodríguez. Regarding the opposition leaders, Carlos Paparoni, Gerardo Blyde and Timoteo Zambrano made reference.
“I will be eternally grateful for your gesture,” he said from the Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Maiquetía. “My fraternal, supportive greeting, at this moment that for me is contradictory, of great happiness because I have been released after five years in what I called the gray box.”
From Friday night sources close to Rodríguez Torres and the government loomed his release. The versions agreed that the former official would first fly to the Dominican Republic and then go to Spain. In the process of releasing the Major General, the former head of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, participated as a mediator.
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Through a statement, the family of Major General Miguel Rodriguez Torres thanked the Government, leaders and opposition and officials of the government of Nicolás Maduro, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk for his management in favor of achieving the freedom of the military.
“We must first thank Almighty God, former President José Luís Rodriguez Zapatero, President Gustavo Petro, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Volker Türk Alto, UN Human Rights Commissioner, Senator Glória Florez, President of the Andean Parliament; Jorge Rodriguez, Delcy Rodriguez, Gerardo Blyde, Rafael Lacava, Timóteo Zambrano, Henrique Capriles, Stalin Gonzalez, Carlos Paparoni, the Government of the United States of America,” they wrote.
Movement for Democracy, the party of Rodríguez Torres, released a statement in which it regretted that the leader “being innocent of the accusations, has suffered and paid a sentence of five years and without a trial to justify his imprisonment,
that he has been publicly slandered without being able to defend himself, that he has lost his father and brother and has not been able to attend their farewells and that he must go into exile as a condition to have some peace and freedom, necessary to recover his health.
The movement thanked all those who helped put an end to the “outrage” and advocated that “the dark figure of the political prisoner” end in the country.
Case of Rodríguez Torres
Miguel Rodríguez Torres was arrested on March 13, 2018. He was accused of being linked to actions to destabilize the National Armed Forces (FAN).
The Major General of the Army, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, served as Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace between 2013 and 2014. He was director of the Sector General Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (Disip).
According to the non-governmental organization Proiuris, exile is a common practice in dictatorships.
Forced exile also constitutes a violation of international treaties signed by the Venezuelan State, explained the former United Nations (UN) ambassador to Venezuela, Milos Alcalay.
“Exiling a Venezuelan is a completely arbitrary act. Simply, a citizen cannot be required to leave his country,” Alcalay said.
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