Colombia deploys 14,000 troops to restive region bordering Venezuela
Colombia has deployed thousands of troops to a restive
region in the country’s north near the border with Venezuela in a declared
attempt to bolster government control of the area, which is a hotspot of
activity by criminal groups and drug traffickers.
Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Wednesday that
14,000 soldiers had been stationed in the northeastern province of Norte de
Santander, where multiple armed groups compete for control of cocaine
production, marking the largest deployment in the country’s recent history.
Duque said the new unit’s mission would be to combat drug
trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime funding.
The new unit will also purportedly confront armed groups
from Colombia’s last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN),
and dissident FARC guerrillas, who have rejected a 2016 peace deal with the
government, as well as criminal groups, including the Clan del Gulfo, which
compete to control crops of coca, the chief ingredient of cocaine.
According to the Colombian government, the deployment would
be accompanied by investments to tackle poverty and substitution and
eradication programs to eliminate illegal crops.
Norte de Santander is one of Colombia’s most volatile
regions and the site of recent high-profile attacks. Back in June, a car bomb
explosion hit a military base in the province’s capital, Cucuta, wounding at
least 36 people.
Violence has recently increased in Colombia, driven by an
estimated 2,500 opposition fighters from the FARC fighting over drug
trafficking routes and illegal mining locations with the ELN and other militant
groups.
Duque has long accused Venezuela of offering support and
refuge to illegal Colombian armed groups. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
has rejected that accusation.
“We need to make sure there is no collusion… in the border
region to sponsor drug trafficking and other international crime,” Duque said
in his Wednesday remarks.
Venezuela and Colombia, which share a 2,200-kilometer
border, have not had diplomatic ties since 2019, when Colombia joined the
United States and other countries in rejecting Maduro’s 2018 reelection.
On Tuesday, Venezuela said it would reopen its border with
Colombia, after more than two years of closure, in an effort to “turn the page”
in trade relations with Bogota.
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