CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó refuted allegations Friday that he has ties to an illegal armed group in Colombia after photos were published on social media purportedly showing him posing with two members of a criminal gang.
The photos were allegedly taken in late February when Guaidó crossed into Colombia and made a surprise appearance at a concert organized by billionaire Richard Branson aimed at helping deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
Government officials loyal to President Nicolás Maduro are holding up the photos as proof that Guaidó’s covert journey was orchestrated with the help of a criminal gang known as the Rastrojos, an accusation he denies.
“That day I took photos with many people,” Guaidó told Colombia’s BLU radio. “Evidently it’s hard to know who is asking you for a photo.”
The spat over the photos comes amid escalating tensions between Colombia and Venezuela.
Relations between the neighboring Andean nations have been brewing for months amid a bitter power struggle and humanitarian crisis. In recent weeks, Colombian President Iván Duque and Maduro have each accused one another of harboring illegal armed groups plotting attacks across their border.
Gen. Luis Fernando Navarro, the commander of Colombia’s military, confirmed to local media Friday that both of the men seen in the photos with Guaidó are members of the Rastrojos who have now been captured. The photos show both men posing individually with Guaidó before a wooded background.
Navarro identified one of the men as Albeiro Lobo Quintero, alias Brother, and the other as Jhon Jairo Durán, alias Menor. Quintero allegedly turned himself into Colombian authorities sometime after the photograph was taken, while Durán was captured as he was being transported in a canoe with an injury from a fight with another criminal group in Venezuela.
Navarro said he couldn’t confirm exactly when or where the photos were taken.
Guaidó told BLU radio that he had no recollection of taking the photos, and that he is pleased to know that both men are no longer free.
“I celebrate that they’ve been detained,” Guaidó said.
Colombia and Venezuela share a 1,370-mile (2,200-kilometer) border with hundreds of illegal crossings controlled by criminal gangs.
The Rastrojos have been operating in the region for nearly two decades and at one point were considered a major drug trafficker. However, their numbers are believed to have waned after the capture of several top leaders in 2012.
Relations between Colombia and Venezuela reached a low point in February when Maduro broke off diplomatic relations after Duque backed Guaidó in a failed push to deliver international humanitarian aid across the border.
Tensions spiked again in late August when a former Colombian rebel peace negotiator and a small cadre of dissidents announced they were abandoning the country’s historic accord and taking up arms again.
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