Venezuela will strengthen security at its border with Colombia with at least 3,500 soldiers, reported local media Friday.
Next Tuesday the Venezuelan Armed Forces (FANB) will strengthen their borders as they resume operation “Sentinal,” announced the country’s Minister of Defense Henry Rangel.
The objective of the operation, which was originally launched in 2009, is to fight crime, including drug trafficking, and “to counteract the influence of violent groups that try to make the border of our country a territory outside the axis,” said Rangel to reporters.
It is a military offensive “to keep fighting upfront, with decision [against] anarchic groups that for years have tried to go outside the law,” Rangel said as he continued to accuse the groups operating at the border of having no nationality and to be looking to install themselves there permanently.
As of last March, Operation Sentinal consisted of 1,500 soldiers protecting nearly 3,000 miles of Venezuela’s borders with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana.
In this occasion, approximately 2,000 soldiers will be moved to specifically protect Venezuela’s 1,379-mile border with Colombia, where there are allegedly organizations linked to drugs, especially cocaine, as well as operating guerrilla, paramilitary, and kidnapping groups.