The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, confirmed Friday that he is willing to request Venezuela to extradite Aída Merlano, a former Colombian senator detained for two years in Venezuelan territory after escaping months earlier taking advantage of an appointment with a dentist in Bogota.
In declarations to the press upon his arrival in Toulouse, in France, Petro acknowledged having read in the press the request for Merlano’s extradition, to which he assured that, «undoubtedly», the Colombian government is willing to attend, according to the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
In a judicial hearing in Venezuela, Merlano appealed to President Petro to demand Venezuelan authorities to immediately extradite him to Colombian soil, committing to clarify the proceedings against him, including the one of his mediatic escape at the beginning of October 2019.
«I want to go to face (…) I want to return to my country and face Justice and assume all the legal processes I have in progress», asserted Melano, who received the approval of the Venezuelan judge in charge of the case, who assured that he would transfer the request of the former senator to the Colombian Presidency.
Merlano, who was a deputy in the Colombian Congress for the Conservative Party between 2014 and 2018, managed to enter the Senate, but was indicted and sentenced in September by the Supreme Court to 15 years in prison for having bought votes to achieve her seat, among other charges.
Barely a month after her admission to prison she staged a movie-like escape. She took advantage of a visit to a dental clinic in Bogota to jump out a window and flee on a motorcycle that was waiting for her. Since then, her whereabouts were unknown until she was arrested in Venezuela.
Once in Venezuelan territory, she assured a court in Caracas that she was the victim of persecution by the then president of Colombia, Iván Duque, because she had enough evidence to «bring down» several prominent figures of the political class of her country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
