Featured image: President Nicolás Maduro presents a briefing on Operation Bolivarian Shield 2022: Fight Against the TANCOL. Photo: Presidential Press.
On Thursday, June 2, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, presented an assessment of Operation Bolivarian Shield 2022 and the fight against TANCOL paramilitary and drug trafficking gangs that enter Venezuela from Colombia and have tried to take over different areas of the country.
President Maduro urged the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) to dismantle all these Tancol groups physically, territorially, logistically, militarily, politically, and socially.
The president reported that 257 structures and camps belonging to TANCOL groups in Apure state have been destroyed, of which 23 were laboratories. Through the Operation Bolivarian Shield, 1,360 improvised explosive devices and 26 drug laboratories have been dismantled.
“We are in an intense battle,” said President Maduro. “All the Tancol must be disabled. They all serve the Colombian government. They are enemies of Venezuela!”
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The president announced that military and police operations will be increased to eliminate Colombian criminal groups in the country.
Maduro also observed that the Colombian border has been abandoned for decades. “The country fights against the greatest enemy of health,” he said, referring to drug trafficking, “and of the life of the peoples of both countries.” The enemy of health, however, “comes from the political power in Colombia.”
He pointed out that this strategy of drug trafficking and Colombian paramilitary terrorism is supported by the United States. “From the neighboring country the TANCOL brought all the dirty methods, and wounded and killed peasants and soldiers,” he decried. “They are operational groups financed by drug trafficking.”
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President Maduro asked the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez, to make the necessary arrangements for incorporation of FANB into the 1Ă—10 Good Government Program to be able to meet the needs of the population in terms of security.
The president also announced that in recent months four fronts have been developed against the TANCOL through the operations Vuelvan Caras in Apure, Barinas, Cojedes and Guárico; Cacique Murachi in Táchira; Lightning from Catatumbo in Zulia; and Cacique Manaure in Falcón.
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In this regard, the head of the Strategic Operational Command of FANB (CEOFANB), Major General Domingo Hernández Lárez, explained that 45 clandestine tracks have been disabled in the last 30 days, and 11,856 kilos of materials and substances for the preparation of explosives have been confiscated. He further reported that small and large weapons, cartridges of different calibers, mortars and other items have been seized.
Most of the seized weapons and war items are made by companies from the United States and countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In addition to weapons, 26 boats, 14 vehicles and two submersible submarines were also seized.
General Hernández Lárez highlighted that in 10 years, 295 aircraft used by Colombian terrorists for drug trafficking have been disabled.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/EF/SC
