Maduro banishes Hugo Chávez's favorite general to Spain after 5 years in prison

• Venezuela Zapatero continues with the operation to "launder" Maduro

The revolutionary authorities have released retired General Miguel Rodríguez Torres, one of the rebel leaders in the coup against Carlos Andrés Pérez and

's favorite among the military ranks.

A heavyweight of Chavismo who has spent almost five years in prison, accused of treason, and who, once banished to Madrid, becomes part of the large Venezuelan exile in Spain.

"Sooner rather than later we will see each other again in the house of blue dreams, with the weapon on our shoulders, with our faces upright and with a chest full of love for the country," one of the most emblematic prisoners used to repeat in his cell. of

and, without a doubt, the most controversial, victim and executioner at the same time.

The decision of the "people's president" comes 20 days after the end of the year, which was the date initially scheduled to

as a measure of grace, an operation now completed in which the former president of the Spanish government, José Luis, has participated Rodríguez Zapatero, and the opposition delegation at the negotiating table in Mexico.

Zapatero, Maduro's main ally in Europe, has sought for a year the freedom of one of the most controversial political prisoners in the Bolivarian dungeons.

The former Prime Minister accompanies the controversial general on the Iberia flight that took off from Caracas to Madrid, after a previous stopover in Santo Domingo.

In a statement made public, the Rodríguez Torres family thanked those who it considers to have been important in the general's exile, beginning with Zapatero himself and his man in Caracas, the collaborationist deputy Timoteo Zambrano.

The list includes the Colombian president,

;

Cardinal Pietro Parolin (former apostolic nuncio in Caracas and today Francisco's right-hand man);

Chavista officials such as the Rodríguez brothers (Vice President Delcy and Jorge, head of the Chavista delegation in Mexico) and Governor Rafael Lacava, as well as various opposition leaders, such as Gerardo Blyde, head of the Unitary Platform delegation in Mexico, Henrique Capriles, Carlos Paparoni and Stalin González.

One of the Chavistas most hated by the opposition

A liberation that is still a poisoned dart: Rodríguez Torres is one of the most hated Chavistas by a large part of the opposition and by relatives of political prisoners.

Heading the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, the general led the fierce repression of the revolution against the young people and students who demonstrated in the streets in 2014.

"He is a human rights violator, he is the father of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) and creator of torture centers like La Tumba, a place where they tortured us for years. Miguel Rodríguez Torres

", reacted the former political prisoner Lorent Saleh, who was exiled in 2018 through the mediation of the Spanish government, which did not reduce his criticism of such a "shameful" release.

Saleh also attacked Zapatero's role in the revolutionary government's "revolving door" policy, as defined by the Penal Forum.

"It is incredible that in Venezuela there are political prisoners of Spanish nationality and that Zapatero ends up acting to protect a criminal, when

he added.

Maduro keeps 273 political prisoners in prison, whom he uses for his negotiations, even for personal matters.

The "people's president" obtained the release of his two drug-nephews, convicted in the US for drug trafficking, in exchange for the release of seven US hostages.

Rodríguez Torres

, who demanded his dismissal after a police operation ended the life of one of their leaders, José Odremán, and four other groups.

The general was dismissed and at that moment a political rift began between who he claimed to represent true Chavismo and Maduro.

Rodríguez Torres launched his own political formation, the Movimiento Amplio Desafío de Todos, with which he intended to participate in the 2018 presidential elections despite being disqualified like so many other political leaders.

With the banner of defending the revolutionary Constitution of 1999, Rodríguez Torres toured the country until he was arrested by those who were his disciples in the political police.

Chávez's confidence in this general was so deep that

the reviled Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin), which ultimately ended up acting fiercely against its own inventor.

On a hunger strike, tied to a bed, Rodríguez Torres learned that those same policemen viciously tortured his sentimental partner, among other excesses.

The judicial pantomime continued until yesterday, when a judge ordered the release of the major general after being given a

, which would already have been served after five years in prison.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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