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The statements come after the heavy fighting that has pushed thousands of people to cross the border to take refuge in Colombia.
“What is happening in Venezuela is that drug trafficking is slowly taking over that country (…) in collusion with the Bolivarian forces and the regime of (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro,” said Diego Molano in an interview with El Tiempo.
In the last week, some 5,000 people have crossed the border to the Colombian municipality of Arauquita to take refuge from the heavy fighting between the Venezuelan public force and a Colombian armed group. Some denounce extrajudicial executions of civilians at the hands of Venezuelan soldiers.
The fighting has left nine “terrorists” dead, 39 detainees and four soldiers deceased, according to the official balance of the Venezuelan authorities. Maduro recognized the possibility that dissidents of the Farc, dissolved after a peace signing in 2016, were involved in the clashes.
But, according to Molano, the Venezuelan military attacked “in an complicit and selective manner only the dissidents” led by a former FARC combatant known as Iván Mordisco, seeking to favor another group led by the former leader of that guerrilla, Iván Márquez, who withdrew in August 2019 from the historic peace agreement that ended more than half a century of armed conflict
The person in charge of the Defense portfolio accused the Venezuelan government of allying with the Márquez group and the last recognized guerrilla in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), to have “unity of command” in the drug trafficking routes across the border. 2,200 kilometers between the two countries.
Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine exporter, according to the UN
“The objective of the operations there is not the protection of the border, it is the protection of the drug trafficking business,” declared Molano.
Colombia and Venezuela have not maintained diplomatic relations since Bogotá recognized opposition Juan Guaidó as interim president in January 2019.
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, accuses Nicolás Maduro of protecting these armed groups in his territory. Caracas denies the accusations and holds Bogotá responsible for the violence for leaving the border.
