HAVANA, June 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister William Castillo denied former Venezuelan intelligence chief Manuel Cristopher Figuera’s allegation that there is a massive presence of Cuban military personnel in their country.
After a two-day visit to Cuba, Castillo said at a press conference in Havana that Figuera’s remarks about a failed military uprising last April and the Cuban presence in Venezuela are part of a “lie manufactured from the United States.”
Figuera, along with Venezuelan opposition leaders Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez, launched a failed military uprising on April 30 aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
After arriving in the United States on Tuesday, Figuera said that Maduro relied on 15 to 20 Cubans for his personal security and confirmed the presence of hundreds of military and civilian advisers from Cuba in the South American nation.
“As intelligence chief, he obviously had information, but he needs to present the evidence. That accusation of Cuban troops in Venezuela … is not true, it is false,” said Castillo.
“There are no troops or military presence from another country in Venezuela,” he said. — NNN-XINHUA
