About 150 Colombian paramilitaries crossed the border with Venezuela and, accompanied by helicopters, entered the Zulia state, the chairman of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) said on Monday.
"Friday last week, 150 paramilitaries entered Venezuelan territory at Caño Negro ... in the Jesus Maria Semprum municipality in the Zulia State. This was revealed by important sources who to us are trustworthy," Communist party chairman Oscar Figuera, an ally of President Hugo Chavez, said without specifying who the sources are.
The paramilitary incursion was supported by three blackhawk helicopters that landed on the Venezuelan-Colombian border, the politicians said.
According to the communist leader, one of the helicopter flew over Venezuelan territory for ten minutes.
Colombia and Venezuela have had strained ties over a U.S.-Colombian plan to allow the U.S. to conduct counter-narcotics operations in the region. Chavez, a fierce opponent of U.S. foreign policies and allegedly a victim of a CIA backed coup in 2002, broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia and has started to block trade with the country.
