Thousands flee as Venezuela’s army battles Colombian gangs

Venezuelans arrive in Arauquita, Colombia, on March 21.

Photographer: Daniel Fernando Martinez Cervera / AFP / Getty Images

Deadly conflicts between Venezuelan security forces and illegal armed groups have caused thousands of civilians to flee across the border to Colombia in search of security.

More than 3,100 Venezuelans have crossed the border “forcibly” since the fighting began this week, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in a post on Twitter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a call in the international community to unite in assistance in the face of this humanitarian crisis, in which more than 3,100 people have tried to force themselves to find protection in Colombia.

– Cancillería Colombia (@CancilleriaCol) March 24, 2021

The violence, in the Venezuelan border state of Apure, continued on Wednesday, with explosions at a local tax agency and a National Guard checkpoint, according to the human rights group Fundaredes. The military fired on helicopter militias, according to Fundaredes, while local media reported that a truck belonging to the state-owned electricity company Corpoelec was attacked.

Venezuela accused Colombia in a statement of supporting the illegal activities of “criminal groups” on the border, including drug trafficking and illegal mining. President Nicolas Maduro’s government said these armed groups attacked civilians, oil and electrical installations and even laid landmines in the area.

Several illegal armed groups operate along stretches of the 2,250-kilometer border and often struggle to control the trafficking and cocaine routes. Distortions and shortages caused by Venezuela’s socialist model often create a lucrative smuggling trade in basic goods in both directions.

As of Monday, at least three people have died in the conflict, said Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. Two were soldiers and one was the leader of an illegal group, he said. The military destroyed six camps used by the groups and detained 32 people, Padrino said on Monday.

Marxist guerrillas of the Colombian National Liberation Army, or ELN, and several factions of the FARC rebels who rejected the 2016 peace process with their government are present on both sides of the border, according to Jeremy McDermott, co-founder of the Insight Crime, a tank thinking that studies organized crime.

Several other organized crime groups, including the so-called Gulf Clan, also operate in the area, he said.

Authorities do not protect civilians caught in the middle who have lost “their crops, their livestock and their homes,” said Luis Lippa, an opposition lawmaker in Apure, in a telephone interview.

Nearly 2 million Venezuelans have moved to Colombia in recent years to escape hunger and chaos in their country.

(Updates with the declaration of Venezuela in the fourth paragraph)

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