VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER Tachira state governor meets with military personnel deployed along border with Colombia

Record ID: 140514

  • Title: VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER Tachira state governor meets with military personnel deployed along border with Colombia
  • Date: 1st September 2015
  • Summary: TACHIRA, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 31, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VENEZUELAN AIR FORCE PLANE LANDING IN TACHIRA VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL DISEMBARKING PLANE MILITARY PERSONNEL STANDING IN LINE VARIOUS OF MILITARY HELMETS GOVERNOR OF TACHIRA, JOSE VIELMA MORA, ARRIVING AT AIRPORT GOVERNOR TALKING WITH MILITARY PERSONNEL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GOVERNOR OF TACHIRA, JOSE VIELMA MORA, SAYING: "As part of the task force ordered by the President of the Republic, there are more than three thousand military personnel. Also, different military units stationed in the area are coming via land to be able to supervise, monitor and certify that no one enters [Venezuela] and that the border with the sister republic of Colombia remains closed." VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL DISEMBARKING PLANE
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAW2ZZK7EV2GPZBULFUJVMYVSC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuelan military personnel arrived in Tachira on Monday (August 31) as part of President Nicolas Maduro's crackdown on smuggling along the shared border with Colombia.
    On August 19 Maduro ordered two border crossings to Colombia closed after a shootout left three soldiers injured during an anti-smuggling operation.
    Since then, more crossings have been closed and over a thousand Colombians living in Venezuela have been deported.
    Governor of Tachira state, Jose Vielma Mora, met with the recently deployed troops and announced that more than 3000 military personnel would be patrolling the border area.
    "As part of the task force ordered by the President of the Republic, there are more than three thousand military personnel. Also, different military units stationed in the area are coming via land to be able to supervise, monitor and certify that no one enters [Venezuela] and that the border with the sister republic of Colombia remains closed."
    Maduro has characterised the deportations and border closures as an effort to uproot paramilitary gangs operating in the area. He says the move is part of an effort to find Colombian paramilitaries who smuggle fixed-price goods and traffic drugs on the porous 2,219-km (1,379-mile) border.
    His opponents, however, allege the measures are serving as a smokescreen to a host of other challenges in the country such as a drop in oil prices, soaring inflation and widespread crime.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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