Former police chief confesses to involvement in assassination of Venezuelan president
A former Venezuelan police chief with anti-government views has admitted to helping in a drone assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro.
Lucches declined to describe his exact role in the operation, saying he wanted to “protect the identities of others.” He also threatened to continue similar operations.
Venezuela's Information Ministry has yet to comment on the confession.
Lucchese was jailed for 10 months in 2014 for refusing to help disperse anti-Maduro protests.
As police chief of San Diego (central Carabobo state), Lucches refused to obey orders from the Interior Ministry to disperse the protesting crowd.
Earlier this year, Lucches withdrew from Popular Will, an opposition party, because he disagreed with the way the party maintained dialogue with President Maduro's government.
Juan Guaido – one of the leaders of Popular Will said Lucchese was expelled because of “differences with the views of the party and the national leadership”, but did not explain further.
Mr Guaido also affirmed that the Popular Will party rejects violence. Similar statements were made by many other mainstream opposition parties after the incident on August 4.
Lucchese declined to discuss his ties to the “Military T-Shirt Movement” – the group that claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on President Maduro.