Venezuela said Thursday it is sending 3,000 extra troops to enforce security on the Colombian border following the death of 12 Colombian soldiers who were attacked on Monday by FARC guerrillas operating from the Venezuelan side of the border.
According to the Venezuelan state press agency, Defense Minister Henry Rangel said the government had begun sending reinforcements to the border and would “continue to send units to the border in the coming hours” in order to “look for elements of armed groups that have penetrated Venezuelan territory.”
The announcement came while Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin met with her Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas to discuss the most recent attack on Colombian forces from Venezuelan territory.
According to Holguin, the two foreign ministers would “analyze the implementation of mechanisms that allow reaching an effective coordination” against Colombian illegal armed groups operating from the neighboring country.
In its deadliest attack of the year, the FARC killed 12 soldiers on Monday in an attack in the department of Guajira, the most northern department along the two countries’ 1367-mile border.