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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a placard on which one can see the "false images" presented by Ivan Duque to the UN. REUTERS / Manaure Quintero

The head of military intelligence in Colombia has resigned. He draws the consequences of false information about the presence of guerrillas in Venezuela, presented to the UN by President Ivan Duque. Questioned in this report, the government of Nicolas Maduro had reacted strongly. These mistakes also aroused the indignation of the Colombian opposition.

This is not the first time that fake news, false information, circulate within the United Nations. But in the case of Colombia, the mistake has cost its position to the Chief of Military Intelligence.

In his letter of resignation, Oswaldo Pena takes responsibility for this affair, which caused a stir in the UN last week. The Colombian president had argued that a dossier submitted to the UN secretary-general contained "undeniable evidence" that Venezuela supported the ELN guerrillas .

But at least two photos attached to the file are accompanied by inaccurate data. The first, for example, which shows rebels from the ELN, is presented as taken last year in the Venezuelan state of Tachira. But the cliche dates from 2015, it was published by the daily El Colombiano and shows a group of guerrillas in the Colombian department of Cauca.

The chief of intelligence resigns, but officially Bogota does not recognize any error. President Ivan Duque explained that these pictures were just pictures of context. For the Colombian government, this case does not change anything on the merits, namely that Venezuela would have become a sanctuary for the Colombian rebellion.

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