Venezuelan soldiers killed civilians, say refugees who fled to Colombia

MUNICIPALITY OF ARAUQUITA, Colombia (Reuters) – Venezuelans fleeing to Colombia to escape clashes between Venezuelan military and irregular armed groups have accused soldiers of abuse, including the death of civilians.

The flow of refugees, estimated at 4,000 by an official from the municipality of Arauquita, Colombia, began on Sunday after Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) launched an offensive against illegal armed groups in La Victoria, a Venezuelan city on the other. side of the Arauca de Arauquita river.

Venezuela said it is investigating allegations that members of its military have committed abuses, including detaining and killing civilians, as well as looting and burning houses.

“They broke into our home and took everything from us. When they arrived, they broke everything, the doors; they came in and took everything I had at home, the workshop, ”mechanic José Castillo, who arrived in Colombia with his pregnant wife and a 12-year-old daughter, told Reuters.

“I couldn’t stay because they are killing people. They killed some neighbors and dressed them in Venezuelan army uniforms to pass them off as guerrillas, ”said Castillo.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the allegations of Castillo, or other displaced Venezuelans who showed pictures on their cell phones of dead people wearing camouflage uniforms and guns in their hands.

Demobilized Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) dissidents, who reject a 2016 peace agreement with the Colombian government, are the targets of military operations, according to fleeing civilians.

But the victims were residents of and around La Victoria, they said.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said at a news conference that two Venezuelan soldiers were killed in clashes with six irregular fighters he called terrorists.

Another 39 were captured, he added in a statement.

“We must expel any group of any ideology, of any foreign nationality,” said Padrino. “We are obliged to expel them, whatever they are called.”

The accusations made against the Venezuelan military do not reflect their ethics, Padrino said.

The Venezuelan Armed Forces are obliged to defend the country from irregular groups, he said, adding that human rights will be respected and events will be investigated.

In a separate statement, Venezuela’s Ministry of Defense accused the Colombian government and the United States Central Intelligence Agency of supporting foreign fighters.

The Colombian government and the CIA were not immediately available for comment.

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, Tarek Saab, wrote in a series of Twitter messages that Venezuela is investigating the events in La Victoria, to see if the rights have been violated.

Colombian President Ivan Duque accused the government of his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro of harboring FARC dissidents and members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), something the Caracas government denies