CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 25 (UPI) — Colombia has condemned recent Venezuelan actions including the closure of Venezuela’s western border with the country and the deportation of about 1,000 Colombians.
President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro ordered the border crossing in the country’s western Táchira state with Colombia to be closed last Wednesday following an attack by smugglers that injured three Venezuelan soldiers and one civilian.
Maduro said the border would initially be closed for at least 72 hours, but he announced Monday it will remain closed indefinitely at least until Wednesday, a week later, as talks between Venezuelan and Colombian diplomats about the border begin.
About 1,000 Colombians reportedly living in Venezuela illegally so far have been expelled as part of a government crackdown on smugglers and criminal gangs in the region.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the expulsion of Colombian citizens. There are an estimated 5 million Colombians living in Venezuela.
“We do not and will not lack firmness to defend our citizens wherever their safety and rights are threatened,” Santos said in a statement referring to the recent events. “Firmness requires wisdom and prudence of diplomacy. Confrontation only serves individual political interests.”
Venezuela and Colombia’s 1,400-mile border is porous and highly unregulated. The border is often used by smugglers to purchase heavily subsidized goods in Venezuela to resell in Colombia for a profit.
Maduro also declared a state of emergency in five Táchira border municipalities and then sent in 1,500 troops to conduct searches for smugglers.
“Our border has rotten. We are victims of the paramilitary capitalist right Colombian model… that imposes on the basis of weapons,” Maduro said on Monday at a press conference, urging both countries to “create a new frontier; healthy, human, respectful of life” that will “abolish the terrorist dictatorship” of “paramilitary groups” and smugglers.
“The border will remain closed, gentlemen, whatever they say,” Maduro concluded.
The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) 29-member leading political opposition coalition has accused Maduro’s government of using last week’s smuggler attack for political benefits ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Dec. 6, as a away to distract Venezuelans from the country’s security issues and worsening economic crisis.
“They are looking that a situation of intense conflict be armed, to say that there is a state of internal confusion as to hamper the realization of elections,” Jesus Torrealba, executive secretary of the MUD, said Monday, adding that the recent state of emergency declaration by Maduro was meant to “distract Venezuelans because they know they will lose the elections.”
“The economic war and that insecurity is imported from Colombia is a story that no one eats,” Torrealba said, also adding that the government is “terrified” of the upcoming elections.
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