Former top Venezuelan military officials accused of trying to oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a 2002 coup are seeking refugee status in Colombia.
Rear Adm. Hector Ramirez, who was named Venezuela's defence minister during the failed two-day coup, is one of nine former or current military officers seeking refuge in Colombia, local media reported this week.
"Unfortunately, we cannot return to our country, precisely due to political persecution," Ramirez said, according to the RCN radio Web site.
The officers began arriving in Colombia in December, RCN said. If convicted of rebellion in Venezuela, the officers face up to 30 years in prison.
Carlos Bastidas, a lawyer representing Ramirez, confirmed Ramirez was in Colombia and that his initial application for refugee status had been turned down. In an interview with Venezuelan TV channel Globovision on Tuesday, he said Ramirez was awaiting the result of an appeal.
Besides Ramirez, those in Colombia include former Venezuelan Vice Adm. Edgar Murillo and former Air Force Gen. Pedro Pereira, RCN said. Following the failed coup, Ramirez and Pereira were among dissident officers expelled from the military and forced into retirement for dereliction of duty.
The Venezuelan government sought to try them for rebellion along with two other ex-officers, but the Supreme Court absolved the group by a narrow majority in August 2002, provoking violent street protests by Chavez supporters.
Chavez harshly criticiced the ruling, and his allies in Congress last year voted out the Supreme Court's vice president who had presided over the ruling, pointing to alleged irregularities in his appointment.
In March, the Supreme Court took up the matter again and overturned its earlier ruling absolving the ex-officers. Prosecutors said they would seek to try them again.
Pedro Carmona, a former national business leader who was sworn in as president during the coup, was granted asylum in Colombia in 2002 and lives in Bogota
Colombia's government recently rejected requests for refugee status by a number of Venezuelans but the cases are under appeal, said an official with Colombia's Foreign Ministry. A Colombian government official speaking on condition of anonymity, citing privacy laws, would not specify the names of the Venezuelans seeking refugee status.