Flores said there was a risk that left-wing rebels who disagreed with a possible peace accord with the Colombian government could use Venezuelan territory to continue the insurgency.
On Thursday, Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan General Assembly representative, said presidential candidate Henrique Capriles would expel FARC and ELN rebels from the border zones with Colombia if elected president on April 14, when Venezuela will hold presidential elections.
“Henrique Capriles has been very firm, in the sense that we will not allow that they use Venezuelan space for the operation of these irregular groups. Our armed forces could have a firm mandate to assure that Venezuelan territory is not [the] safeguard of these groups,” said Machado during a visit to Colombia.
The ELN, Colombia’s second largest rebel group with some 2,500 armed members, has been fighting the Colombian state for nearly half a century. The rebel group still holds a Canadian citizen hostage, who was kidnapped in northern Colombia in mid-January.