Some 1,300 troops, including the military and the police, were deployed in the town of Ureña, in the state of Táchira, bordering the Colombian city of Cúcuta, where a “dispute over control of territory” is taking place between groups such as ELN, dissidents from the FARC, the Clan del Golfo and 45 other paramilitary groups, said the governor of Táchira Freddy Bernal
Structures of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the FARC, as well as drug traffickers of the Clan del Golfo operate on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, as denounced by the governor of the state of Táchira, Freddy Bernal.
Both countries share a porous border of more than 2,200 km, where “12 structures of the National Liberation Army (ELN) operate, three of the FARC dissidents, one of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), and three of the Clan del Golfo” Bernal told reporters during a security operation in the area.
Bernal indicated that “45 paramilitary groups installed in the North of Santander (border with Táchira) are also at work and are trying to take the border,” in addition to “26 criminal groups from the Tren de Aragua,” a Venezuelan criminal gang that extended its tentacles to Colombia. and other Latin American countries.
Some 1,300 troops, including the military and the police, were deployed in the town of Ureña, on the border with the Colombian city of Cúcuta, where there is a “dispute over control of territory” between these groups, added the official, who accompanied the operation together to heads of the army and police.
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Soldiers aboard three armored vehicles, with bullet belts across their chests, patrolled the town. The troops also took illegal steps called “trochas”, where thousands of people from both countries travel, and these criminal gangs cross millions of dollars in contraband.
“They have tried to damage the peace and tranquility that we have here on the border with a lot of effort,” added Bernal. Three men were killed in the operation. This took place a few days after a meeting between the defense ministers of both countries in which they reaffirmed their commitment to combat irregular groups on the common border.
Both countries have entered into a process of resuming relations that began last August with the coming to power of Colombia’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro. Colombia suffers the ravages of an armed conflict that has not ended after more than half a century, despite the demobilization of thousands of FARC guerrilla fighters after the signing of peace in 2016.
With information from AFP
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