By Orla Guerin, BBC News, in Colombia near the Venezuelan border
We met the deserters - male and female - one day after they laid down their weapons and left their posts. They have found sanctuary in a Catholic church, with a discreet security presence outside.
Some seemed to be in shock over the violent scenes this weekend when Venezuelan troops fired on their own people with teargas and rubber bullets.
The parish priest who took them in told us many arrived battered and bruised. The deserters said they had fled because their homeland needed change, and their children needed food. After speaking on the phone to a loved one, one young officer wept openly.
Most of those we met were foot soldiers. They said the top brass was still bound - by corruption - to President Nicolás Maduro, and that he would fight to stay in power.
But they said he had lost the rank and file who were putting their faith in the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó.
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