Colombia's response to Maduro's announcements of militarizing border

[Akrapovic]

The Venezuelan president again insisted on sending troops and activating 'missile system'.

The Colombian government responded on Wednesday to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who announced that he will deploy troops to the border in the face of the risk of something being tried from our country against him.

Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said that the Colombian State is able to guarantee sovereignty and respond to any eventuality, to the extent that the country has one of the best armies in the world.
However, it was clear to point out that Colombia is not going to be provoked under any circumstances and will always act under the light of international humanitarian law.

For Trujillo, the real threat to the country and the region is the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.
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The Venezuelan president declared "the orange alert to an eventual aggression of Colombia against Venezuela." Begin from September 10 until September 28 military exercises sovereignty and peace throughout the western border of Venezuela, "he said.

In this regard, Foreign Minister Trujillo said it is a threat that is reflected in the opening of Venezuelan territory for the action of narcoterrorist groups against Colombian citizens.

"It is a threat that has to do not only with Colombia but with stability and tranquility in the region," said the head of Foreign Affairs.

For his part, the presidential adviser for Security, Rafael Guarin, said that the Colombian Military Forces have a presence throughout the border, have the intelligence capacity and are one of the most important and most relevant military forces in the world to respond to an aggression

He added that the instruction here is clear: "Prudence, do not fall into provocations."

Begin from September 10 to September 28 military exercises sovereignty and peace throughout the western border of Venezuela

'Missile system' at the border

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Wednesday that he will deploy a missile system for air defense on the border that the country shares with Colombia, considering that the Government of the neighboring nation intends to generate an "armed conflict" in the area.

"Now we are going to deploy the militia system of air defense, ground defense, armored, we are going to deploy it from September 10 to 28," at which time military exercises will be carried out on the 2,219 kilometers of border that Venezuela shares with Colombia, he said. President.

Maduro recalled that on Tuesday he declared an orange alert for the military units of the Zulia, Táchira, Amazonas and Apure states, all bordering with Colombia.

"And the troops are already deployed" in those territories, said the president, who said that his Colombian counterpart, Iván Duque, "has a provocation plan, a false positive for the month of September."

"He intends to mount a false positive, attack Venezuelan territory to go to the United Nations Security Council to put together a cheap political show at the cost of an armed conflict," he denounced.

In his opinion, Duque "has brought Colombia back to a war situation" due to the rearmament of a group of FARC guerrilla dissidents, headed by the number two of that organization, Luciano Marín Arango, aka Iván Márquez.

"The violence of Colombia that stays in Colombia, we don't want it here," added the Chavista leader.