Colombia jails US citizen on femicide charges
Colombia preparing tropical paradise for tourism after 500...
Hacktivists leak 178,000 documents from Colombia’s military
Colombia’s sentenced for exterminating political party
Colombia’s capital Bogota awarded for failing crime policy
OAS urges Colombia to release people arrested over...
Colombia’s war crimes tribunal hears notorious former warlord
Colombia’s GDP and GNI
Panama arrests US citizen suspected in Colombia of...
Colombia seeking mastermind behind Paraguay prosecutor kill plot
  • About
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Colombia News | Colombia Reports
  • News
    • General
    • Analysis
    • War and peace
    • Elections
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Sports
    • Science and Tech
  • Travel
    • General
    • Bogota
    • Medellin
    • Cali
    • Cartagena
    • Antioquia
    • Caribbean
    • Pacific
    • Coffee region
    • Amazon
    • Southwest Colombia
    • Northeast Colombia
    • Central Colombia
  • Data
    • Economy
    • Crime and security
    • War and peace
    • Development
    • Cities
    • Regions
    • Provinces
  • Profiles
    • Organized crime
    • Politics
    • Armed conflict
    • Economy
    • Sports
  • Lite
  • Opinion
News

Colombia military escorts Venezuela troops back to home turf

by Adriaan Alsema March 24, 2017

Colombia’s armed forces commander on Wednesday published a video showing Colombian soldiers escort Venezuelan colleagues to their home country after spending days on the wrong side of the border.

In the video published by General Juan Pablo Rodriguez, soldiers are seen taking down the Venezuelan flag that had been planted in the camp across the Arauca river, which separates the two countries.

Los miembros de las @FuerzasMilCol garantizan salida del territorio nacional de la totalidad de uniformados venezolanos en #Arauca pic.twitter.com/zx4niKpOqE

— Juan Pablo Rodriguez (@GrRodriguezB) March 24, 2017

The group of between 60 and 125 soldiers made the incursion into Colombian territory on Sunday, setting up camp and raising the Venezuelan flag.

The incident wasn’t made public until Thursday when El Tiempo reported about the incursion. Hours later, President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted “the last Venezuelan soldier has just left Colombian territory.”

Acaba de salir último soldado venezolano de territorio colombiano

— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) March 23, 2017

In a televised speech, Santos said he wasn’t aware of the Venezuelan incursion until Wednesday, at least two days after it happened.


“As soon as I found out about the situation yesterday, I instructed the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense to communicate with their Venezuelan counterparts, following our custom of prioritizing dialogue and diplomatic means to solve problems.”

President Juan Manuel Santos

According to Santos, he had called his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro to make clear the incursion was “completely unacceptable.”

Maduro allegedly responded he had given the orders to remove the soldiers from Colombia’s Arauquita municipality.

Without recognizing Venezuelan troops had made an illegal incursion into a neighboring country’s territory, the country’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a press conference that the natural shifting and morphing of the Arauca river could have caused the incident.

According to Rodriguez, these shifts of the natural border between the two countries had previously led to “differences in interpretation” of where the exact border lies.

The two neighboring countries have diplomatically clashed on numerous occasions, mainly over alleged activity of Colombian paramilitary groups in the neighboring country and Venezuela’s apparent lack of respect for its neighbor’s territorial sovereignty.

Earlier this year, a number of Venezuelan soldiers were arrested after driving into Colombian territory while allegedly chasing a criminal trying to evade capture by crossing the border.

In October last year, Colombian airliner Avianca temporarily suspended flights to Venezuela after one of its aircraft was intercepted by Venezuelan fighter jets.

 

border issuestensions with VenezuelaVenezuela

Trending

  • Panama arrests US citizen suspected in Colombia of murdering fiancé

  • Colombia’s capital Bogota awarded for failing crime policy

  • Colombia’s war crimes tribunal hears notorious former warlord

For patrons

Downloads for patrons

Related articles

  • Colombia and Venezuela reopen land border

  • Peace talks with Colombia’s ELN guerrillas to resume in Venezuela on Monday

  • Colombia’s president visits Venezuela for the first time since migration crisis

  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Rss

@2008-2019 - Colombia Reports. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Digitale Zaken and Parrolabs


Back To Top
Colombia News | Colombia Reports
  • News
    • General
    • Analysis
    • War and peace
    • Elections
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Sports
    • Science and Tech
  • Travel
    • General
    • Bogota
    • Medellin
    • Cali
    • Cartagena
    • Antioquia
    • Caribbean
    • Pacific
    • Coffee region
    • Amazon
    • Southwest Colombia
    • Northeast Colombia
    • Central Colombia
  • Data
    • Economy
    • Crime and security
    • War and peace
    • Development
    • Cities
    • Regions
    • Provinces
  • Profiles
    • Organized crime
    • Politics
    • Armed conflict
    • Economy
    • Sports
  • Lite
  • Opinion