How Has Maduro Survived? With Lots of Help From Cuban Operatives
- Nearly 10,000 Cubans are in sensitive roles, U.S. believes
- Some arrested say Cubans were supervising their interrogations
Photographer: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
The men who ripped Carlos Guillen’s toenails out and tightened a plastic bag over his face at counterintelligence headquarters in Caracas were Venezuelan. But the officers overseeing his torture were Cuban.
What immediately gave them away was how they spoke Spanish, said Guillen, a former lieutenant in the Venezuelan military who was accused of treason and, after being placed under house arrest and escaping, fled to Colombia.