President Ivan Duque accused Venezuela of harboring Colombian “narcoterrorists” at the United Nations’ General Assembly on Wednesday.
In his second intervention before world leaders, Duque reiterated his claim that “the dictatorship” of his disputed Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro is a threat to peace and stability in the region.
The Venezuelan dictatorship is one more link in the chain of transnational terrorism. Its corrupt structures are servants of the drug cartels; its pawns are henchmen of the mafia and fuel violence in Colombia; they shelter murderers and child rapists, and ignore these accomplices of the dictatorship.
President Ivan Duque
The Colombian president reiterated that he would surrender “reliable and compelling” evidence of Maduro’s alleged ties to ELN guerrillas and drug trafficking organizations.
This evidence would prove that 1,438 of the ELN’s guerrillas are residing in Venezuela and that Colombia’s last-standing guerrilla group controlled 207 sites in the neighboring country.
Additionally, Duque said, “Venezuela has become fertile ground for the emergence of a new criminal group that is aligned with the ELN,” presumably referring to the group of former FARC leader “Ivan Marquez,” who rearmed in July.
Despite his strong claims, Duque refrained from calling on the UN to enforce the 2001 resolution that allowed the United States to invade Afghanistan as his foreign minister had threatened before.
Venezuela and Colombia to accuse each other of supporting terrorism at UN
Instead, the president called on the international community to increase pressure and impose more sanctions on Maduro and his government.
Duque reiterated his support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself president last year, but has since also been tied to drug traffickers.
The ongoing humanitarian and institutional crisis in Venezuela has become a major burden on the region, and in particular Colombia. The country is estimated to host some 1.4 million Venezuelans who have fled their country’s crisis.
