Three Colombian Navy Platoons Deployed at Border with Venezuela to 'Reinforce Security'

Last Thursday, April 1, the government of Colombia deployed three platoons of the Colombian navy in the department of Arauca on the Colombia-Venezuela border, with the alleged mission of “guaranteeing border security and providing protection to the Colombian population.” Incidentally, Arauca is the region from where Colombian narco-paramilitary gangs routinely violate Venezuelan sovereignty and security of the Venezuelan people.

According to a note published by Webinfomil last Thursday, this group, comprised of 90 soldiers, has as “main objective the defense of sovereignty, independence, integrity of the national territory and constitutional order.”

It highlights that “the 90 Marines of the Colombian Navy constituting these units arrived in Araucanian territory after an arduous process of formation, instruction and training carried out for three months at the Marine Infantry Training Base, in Coveñas, Sucre.”

This action was taken, continued the aforementioned website, “as part of the commitment made by the Commander of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Gabriel Alfonso Pérez Garcés, in the Security Council held by the Minister of National Defense Diego Molano.”

Likewise, a tweet posted on the official Twitter account of the Colombian ministry of defense gave the same information, and added that “three platoons of the Marine Corps arrived in the capital of Arauca a few hours ago to reinforce security in this region of the country.”

It should be remembered that last Sunday, March 28, the Colombian government decreed “public calamity” after a group of residents of La Victoria locality of the Venezuelan state of Apure were forced to leave their homes and flee to neighboring Arauca on the other side of the border as a result of terrorist attacks carried out by Colombian paramilitary gangs trying to take control of the area.

After the deployment of troops from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) to the affected area, who expelled those criminal groups, linked to drug trafficking among other things, the displaced people started returned to their homes. However, some of those people are still in Colombian territory.

Currently, units of the FANB remain deployed in Apure, reinforcing security in different parts of the state to prevent terrorists from continuing to violate peace in Venezuela.

Featured image: Colombian navy platoons deployed in the border with Venezuela in the Colombian department of Arauca, an area controlled by narco-paramilitary gangs. File photo.

(La IguanaTV)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SC