Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro defended the deployment of thousands of troops to the Colombian border, claiming it seeks to prevent the trafficking and planting of cocaine in the region.
"Venezuela is free from the planting and production of cocaine," Maduro said during his TV show "With Maduro +." He went on to say that there are "thousands of men and women" from the Colombian army there.
Maduro didn't link Colombian President Gustavo Petro with drug-trafficking operations, instead saying that former President Alvaro Uribe had close ties with drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Earlier on Monday Diosdado Cabello, vice president of Venezuela's ruling party and Minister of Interior, said the operation along the border involves drones, aircraft, river patrols, and rapid-response units, which will initially focus on border states Zulia and Táchira states in what he called "Zona de Paz #1" ("Peace Zone #1).
Cabello reiterated accusations that opposition leader María Corina Machado also maintains ties with Colombian and Mexican criminal groups, including the Jalisco Cartel.
Cabello also insisted that Venezuela accounts for about 5% of global trafficking flows, citing a United Nations report, and rejected claims that the government is linked to cartels, as the Trump administration is claiming.
However, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Terry Cole, last week accused Venezuela of collaborating with Colombian guerrilla groups to ship "record amounts of cocaine" to Mexican cartels trafficking into the United States. Officials are also claiming this merits the decision to send troops off its coast.
The claims follow President Nicolás Maduro's call for millions of Venezuelans to join "combat ranks" to defend national sovereignty after the U.S. deployed troops off the coast of the South American nation, a move Maduro has characterized as a prelude to invasion. Thousands of people reportedly signed up during the weekend.
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