A Venezuelan opposition activist has been deported from Colombia and handed to Venezuelan authorities on Friday, Colombia’s foreign ministry said Friday.
The Venezuelan political activist Lorent Enrique Gomez, director of the NGO Operacion Libertad Internacional, was expelled from Colombia according to a statement made by Colombian Migration.
The government body stated it is for reasons of national security to deport the student. According to the law, this decision may be taken whenever, in its judgment, “a foreign citizen engaging in activities disrupts public order, social peace, public security or when there is information indicating that the individual poses a risk in that sense. “
“The expelled citizen was delivered to the Venezuelan immigration authorities,” according to the Colombian Migration statement, “this procedure, which took place in the city of Bogotá, was conducted under the legal framework and respect for human rights. “
Senator Álvaro Uribe, a vociferous critic of Venezuela’s leftist government, made harsh criticisms on Twitter against the Colombian government for its role in this incident.
Uribe condemned the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and his Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin for the fate of Gomez. In one tweet Uribe wrote, “Santos surrendered a student to [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro while he protects terrorists whose extradition Santos does not seek. ” Uribe also published an interview with Gomez’ mother in which she notes that her son’s life is in danger.
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The young man was studying at la Escuela Superior de Guerra de Colombia (the Colombia War College) and has been detained and beaten by the police in Venezuela in the past. In one of his Twitter messages he wrote: “The current regime in Venezuela is incapable and should publicly be declared as failed state.”
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In one of Operacion Libertad’s songs they complain of the Venezuelan government: “Let our people suffer no more pain caused by the totalitarian power and criminal gangs masquerading as revolutionaries.”
Gomez was arrested in March when he and another youth rioted on a pedestrian bridge in Bogota, where they set up a banner, according to El Tiempo.
After his deportation, the Twitter account of Operacion Libertad wrote that “Lorent is a defender of human rights, should not return to Venezuela”.