MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Colombia trained and sponsored participants in the failed assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa said in an interview with TASS.
"A total of 14 people have been arrested, while the incident involved another 34 persons who haven’t been detained yet," he said. "Lawmaker Requesens has been arrested and confessed of being involved. Opposition lawmaker Julio Borges also was among the participants. The prosecutor general reported that those people had been trained in Colombia, not far from Venezuela’s border," the ambassador added.
"President Maduro openly accused Colombia’s government and then President Juan Manuel Santos [of being involved in the assassination attempt]. It has been established that the Colombian government had provided financial assistance," he noted.
An assassination attempt on the Venezuelan president, which involved unmanned aerial vehicles carrying explosives, took place on August 4, while Maduro was delivering a speech at a ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of the National Bolivarian Guard. However, neither Maduro nor other officials were affected by the attack.