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LATIN AMERICA |
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Venezuela May Destroy Six Bridges on
Colombian Border
By Daniel Cancel and Alexander Cuadros
CARACAS (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s armed
forces plan to destroy six more foot bridges
along the border with Colombia on suspicion
they’re being used to traffic drugs, food
and gasoline, in a move that may further
undercut relations.
Venezuela destroyed two foot bridges last
week, drawing protests from Colombia’s
government, which filed formal complaints
with the United Nations and the Organization
of American States.
“We’re not going to allow the use of these
bridges to illegally smuggle gasoline, food
and or drugs,” Venezuelan General Eusebio
Aguero said, according to an e-mailed
statement from the Information Ministry.
“The Colombian government knows that we have
the right to disable these crossings.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this month
told his military and civil militias to
prepare for an invasion after Colombia
signed an agreement to allow U.S. troops
access to seven military bases for
counter-narcotics operations. Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe has accused Chavez of
financing leftist rebels that operate along
the 2,000-kilometer (1,243-mile) border.
Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN Jorge Valero
said yesterday that the UN Security Council
should discuss the threat of allowing U.S.
troops access to Colombian military bases.
Chavez says the bases imperil Venezuelan
sovereignty by allowing the U.S. to use
technology at the bases to spy on his
government and strategic targets like oil
refineries.
Social Crossings
Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva
said today that communities on both sides of
the border use the crossings for social and
economic purposes. Silva said Colombia will
denounce any further destruction of foot
bridges.
“These foot bridges have for decades united
communities that interact socially and
economically, that have family relations,
that have businesses together,” he told
reporters in Bogota. “These bridges came
about because of the absence of the state.
For decades we’ve left the border
abandoned.”
Subsidized gasoline and staple foods sold in
Venezuela are commonly snuck into Colombia
where they sell for a higher price.
Venezuelan authorities say that armed groups
and drug traffickers use the border to
smuggle cocaine and marijuana into Venezuela
as a point of transit to the U.S. and
Europe.
Both countries have announced an increase of
troop deployments to the border area. Silva
said that as many as 2,000 troops may
monitor the border in the northeastern
provinces of Norte de Santander and Arauca,
and Aguero said that 4,000 troops will be
deployed in Tachira state to reinforce
security.
The two countries are each other’s
second-largest trading partners after the
U.S. Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged
50 percent in September from a year earlier
after Chavez said he would reduce commercial
ties.
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