FANB personnel inspect seized material from paramilitary camps in Zulia state, on the border with Colombia. Photo: CEOFANB.
The Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) has destroyed three illegal camps set up by Colombian armed groups in the Jesús María Semprum municipality of Zulia state, reported the head of the Strategic Operational Command of the FANB, Major General Domingo Hernández Lárez.
In a press release on Tuesday, February 4, Major General Domingo Hernández Lárez detailed that the structures were detected through patrol and search work as part of the Lightning of Catatumbo Operation of the Bolivarian Shield 2025 military drills.
One of the camps was a training center with the capacity to house up to 80 people, while the other two were logistics camps. It is presumed that one of the structures belonged to a paramilitary leader.
Hernández Lárez also reported that 655 packages of suspected cocaine and 1,400 liters of acetone were seized from the camps. In addition, a truck and several military garments alluding to the now defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were disabled.
President Nicolás Maduro ordered the activation of the Lightning of Catatumbo Operation jointly with Colombia in order to stop the infiltration of Colombian paramilitaries into Venezuelan territory amid the armed conflict that is taking place in the Colombian Catatumbo region and that has left hundreds of people displaced and more than 80 dead.
The FANB remains deployed throughout Venezuela to safeguard national sovereignty and integrity of the territory.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/BR/SC
