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Venezuela deports almost 800 Colombians in border-region crackdown
Source: Associated Press
Venezuela deports almost 800 Colombians in border-region crackdown
Associated Press in Caracas
Monday 24 August 2015 19.18 BST
Venezuelan security forces have deported hundreds of Colombians as part of a security offensive along the border that is ratcheting up tensions between the two neighbors.
Governor Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora of Tachira state said on Sunday that 791 Colombians living in Venezuela illegally had been handed over to Colombian authorities as a result of a now five-day crackdown against smugglers and criminal gangs operating along the 1,400-mile (2,200km) border.
President Nicolas Maduro last week closed a major crossing between the two countries and declared a state of emergency in several western cities after three army officers were shot and wounded by gunmen he said belonged to paramilitary gangs operating from Colombia. While the assailants have yet to be caught or identified, the incident touched a nerve with supporters of Maduro’s socialist administration, who increasingly have placed blame for rampant crime and widespread shortages on Colombians, believed to number 5 million in Venezuela.
As part of the state of emergency, Maduro deployed some 1,500 extra troops to the border to search house by house for smugglers who thrive on purchasing goods in Venezuela at dirt-cheap prices and reselling them across the border for huge profits.
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Associated Press in Caracas
Monday 24 August 2015 19.18 BST
Venezuelan security forces have deported hundreds of Colombians as part of a security offensive along the border that is ratcheting up tensions between the two neighbors.
Governor Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora of Tachira state said on Sunday that 791 Colombians living in Venezuela illegally had been handed over to Colombian authorities as a result of a now five-day crackdown against smugglers and criminal gangs operating along the 1,400-mile (2,200km) border.
President Nicolas Maduro last week closed a major crossing between the two countries and declared a state of emergency in several western cities after three army officers were shot and wounded by gunmen he said belonged to paramilitary gangs operating from Colombia. While the assailants have yet to be caught or identified, the incident touched a nerve with supporters of Maduro’s socialist administration, who increasingly have placed blame for rampant crime and widespread shortages on Colombians, believed to number 5 million in Venezuela.
As part of the state of emergency, Maduro deployed some 1,500 extra troops to the border to search house by house for smugglers who thrive on purchasing goods in Venezuela at dirt-cheap prices and reselling them across the border for huge profits.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/24/venezuela-colombia-deportation-border-crackdown
