1) Hundreds of thousands of poor Colombians have fled into Venezuela and Ecuador, seeking refuge from the Colombian military and its closely tied rightwing death squads, who have brutally driven FIVE MILLION peasant farmers from their lands--THE worst human displacement crisis on earth.
2) Colombia's "Black Eagles" (latest incarnation of the AUC--rightwing death squads; crime mob) have utilized this flood of refugees to infiltrate Venezuela, for the purposes of assassination/overthrow and setting up criminal operations.
3) As a border governor, Rodriguez may have been installed by, and is being protected by, the "Black Eagles" and/or the Colombian military itself.
4) In addition to everything else, Colombia has one of the worst records in LatAm on treatment of the Indigenous.
My "rule of thumb" for Bushwhacks may be applicable to Rodriguez. It is this: Whatever they say, the opposite is true; and, whatever they accuse others of doing, they are doing or planning to do.
If it was Rodriguez or his operatives who were threatening the Indigenous border community and extorting them for gold mining revenues, then perhaps the Venezuelan National Guards in civies were trying to investigate it. And in typical Bushwhack fashion, Rodriguez then puts out P.R. flak that the Venezuelans were the perps.
It is of course possible that Venezuelan National Guards did this--anything is possible--but it is not very likely. About the last thing in the world that the Venezuelan government would want, at this point, is a border incident with Colombia. Venezuelan/Colombia trade and friendly relations, only recently restored, by Santos and Chavez, post-Uribe (and post-Bush Junta), have already been threatened by a couple of Colombian actions (Capriles' visit to Santos, while Capriles was trying to oust Maduro, after the presidential special election; and Colombia's application to join NATO). There are no positives for Venezuela in a breach of relations with Colombia, and there are none for Colombia either. Both benefit from trade and friendly relations along their long border. So, if this occurred as Rodriguez said, it is unlikely in the extreme that it was approved by the Venezuelan government. (On top of everything else, Venezuela has a good record in dealing with the Indigenous, and Colombia does not.) It could have been a rogue group of Venezuelan National Guards. That is more possible than that it was an official action of any kind. But, currently, just based on the smell of this news, I don't trust Rodriguez's portrayal of it. I strongly suspect that it's cover for his own or his associates' crimes.
One other possibility: That it WAS an investigation of crimes against the Indigenous in the border area, ordered or approved by the Venezuelan government. It was intended as a covert investigation (thus, the civies), so as not to create an incident. (And if the investigators got the goods on Rodriguez or pals, and/or tried to stop the exploitation of the Indigenous tribe, then my "rule of thumb" for Bushwhacks applies: Rodriguez put forward the opposite of the truth, as cover.)
More information needed. I don't trust this account.
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