Paramilitary group Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra in Colombia.     Photo: X/ @InSightCrime_es

Bogota, July 7 (RHC)-- Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra, paramilitary group which informed to the Venezuelan government that far-right groups tried to contact them to carry out destabilizing plans, has urged President Gustavo Petro for guarantees for direct dialogue with President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

“We respectfully request that President Gustavo Petro adopt the appropriate measures so that the authorities of Venezuela may have a direct dialogue with our organization to give them the information and thus begin the respective judicial proceedings,” said the paramilitary group.

“The General Staff of the Conquering Self-Defense Sierra (ACSN), addresses to you Presidents reaffirming our will for peace, convinced that building it is the only way to achieve the hopes of prosperity and tranquility we owe to the communities that inhabit the territory under our protection,” reads the ACSN statement spread on X.

The armed group informed Petro’s and Maduro’s governments that it is their will to they “know first-hand the situation that arose with groups from the neighboring country that sought our influence to alter the democratic system.”

The General Staff of Autodefensas Conquistadoras said they were aware of Nicolás Maduro’s statement “with reference to our information, and we have a moral obligation to instruct them for the purposes they deem necessary.”

“We reiterate that this act of peace originates in respect for electoral processes and democracy in Venezuela so that real peace can be built and violence stopped for the sake of the people we protect and that of our neighbors, who also have the right to self-determination,” the military statement concludes.

The Venezuelan Public Ministry have already appointed the National Prosecutor’s Office number 83, to “investigate and sanction new threats of assassination against the Head of State Nicolás Maduro”, reported the head of that entity, Tarek William Saab.

On Friday, the Colombian paramilitary group Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra (ACSN) reported on Friday that they were contacted by "extreme right groups in Venezuela," with the aim of destabilizing the government of President Nicolás Maduro.