Iván Duque explained that to confront the guerrillas, intelligence and counterintelligence and aviation will be reinforced in Arauca.
Colombian President Iván Duque on Monday ordered the dispatch of two Army battalions to the department of Arauca, on the border with Venezuela, to face the violence between the FARC and ELN dissidents that left at least 24 dead.
“I have ordered two battalions to be deployed to support the task of territorial control in the next 72 hours,” said the head of state, referring to the situation of violence that plagues the municipalities of Tame, Fortul, Saravena and Arauquita.
According to Tame’s representative, Juan Carlos Villate, the clashes between dissidents from the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN) left 24 people murdered in the first two days of this year.
The president, who led a security meeting in Cartagena de Indias in which he reviewed the strategy of the Defense sector with the high military and police commanders, insisted that the two Colombian guerrillas are sheltered and protected in Venezuela. .
“These groups (the FARC and ELN dissidents) have been operating at ease in Venezuelan territory with the consent and protection of the dictatorial regime,” the Colombian ruler stressed.
Duque explained that to confront the guerrillas, intelligence and counterintelligence and aviation will be strengthened in Arauca, where drones will also be used to anticipate the movements of illegal armed groups.
He indicated that a “follow-up will be carried out in all the points where we know that illegal armed groups are crossing the border, are also committing crimes in Venezuela, and crimes in Colombia and they intend to mimic themselves at those border crossings.”
He also said that he will denounce before international bodies “coexistence, the protection that the dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro has provided to these criminal structures.”
Arauca is an oil and agricultural department where decades ago the Eastern War Front of the ELN, the most powerful of that guerrilla, became strong, now challenged by the 10th Front of the FARC dissidents. (I)
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