Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (center) supervises preparations for the Bolivarian Shield 2025 military drills. Photo: Presidential Press.
Venezuela launched the Lightning of Catatumbo Operation as part of the Bolivarian Shield 2025 Military Drills and will cover the entire border shared between Colombia and Venezuela.
The announcement was made on Friday, January 31, by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who stated that the operation is being carried out “in coordination with the [Colombian] government of President Gustavo Petro, based on the principle of binational, integrated economic and social development, with a profoundly human and unifying characteristic between our peoples.”
President Maduro further reported that the deployment covers the northern regions of Táchira state bordering the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, where clashes between armed factions are ongoing, due to which the Colombian government has decreed a “State of Internal Commotion.”
Regarding the size of the deployment, President Maduro stated, “We are going there with the entire military force.”
The Venezuelan president clarified that the “Lightning of Catatumbo exercises are carried out at least three times a year. However, the current deployment is a special one, given that “in that region, a conflict is going on currently, and we are following it closely.”
He added that these military operations have made it possible to liberate and keep the territory of Venezuela free from “clandestine airstrips, illegal coca plantations, cocaine laboratories, and all those disturbing elements.”
President Maduro ended his message with a call for peace, highlighting the importance of “constructing the paths of integration and Colombian-Venezuelan brotherhood throughout this immense territory of South America.”
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
