:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/5STKQFAHBVAFHCLEOIH34USPYA.jpg "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies the incursion of Venezuelan troops into Colombian territory")
After the reports published on Saturday March 11 on social networks where it was indicated that the The Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela allegedly carried out an illegal mobilization of its troops towards the village of Francisco de Paula Santander of the corregimiento La Gabarra and under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander; in the last hours the National Chancellery denied this information through its official channels.
In a press release published on his website and via his social networks, he assured that after verifying this information, there was no proof of what had been denounced by the inhabitants of the sector:
“According to information collected in the area, national and regional authorities have verified that no incursion by Venezuelan troops into Colombian territory has been recorded.”
According to witnesses consulted by NCR Radio, members of the Venezuelan army arrived in the area to question its inhabitants, in particular peasants and indigenous people. After the investigation was completed, residents said the uniformed officers entered their homes, searched them and then burned them.
The president of the Community Action Council (JAC) of the district of La Gabarra, Rubel Quintero, told the source:
“There was a violation of sovereignty, because they crossed the border, they burned the houses and the ranches of several people. They stayed there for several hours. We know that they did not physically attack the inhabitants, but they strongly insulted them.”
The president of the departmental network of human rights defenders, Enrique Pertúz, assured the source in an interview that the events constitute a violation of Colombia’s sovereignty. For this reason, he made a public appeal to Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva to alert the Venezuelan government to the situation, through a “protest note”:
“We ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a note of protest. But not one more note in the face of this violent act, where they have outraged the peasants who live in this village near the border area, so that the sovereignty, peace and dignity of these communities are guaranteed”.
Pertúz maintained that said action by the Venezuelan army was not in line with the directives that the governments of Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro have proposed in recent months to restore diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries:
“It is not the first time that this type of event has occurred with the peasants who make up the border with the sister republic of Venezuela. It’s a repetitive situation, we thought that with the opening of the border and the relations that have been revived, this type of event was relegated to the past. But it shows us that there is an attitude of the Guard to violate the sovereignty of our country and to attack the peasants”
As the human rights defender pointed out, this is not the first time that the inhabitants of the municipality of La Gabarra have denounced an armed military incursion by the Venezuelan army in recent years. On April 26, 2022, residents of two other villages, La Colombiana and San Francisco, denounced that the Venezuelan army had carried out an armed incursion into the rural area. There they not only detained some people, but also burned down some houses, which could confirm that this is an already established modus operandi.