Skirmishes between army and armed group in Venezuela

Venezuelan soldiers fought heavy fighting with an armed group in the border area with Colombia on Sunday. The mayor of the Colombian border town of Arauquita, Etelivar Torres, said on Sunday that there were several dead and injured in the fighting in the neighboring state of Apure. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro said on television that the army had fought an armed group from Colombia.

According to a Venezuelan general who lives in exile, the soldiers attacked a camp of renegade fighters of the dissolved guerrilla organization Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Colombia and Venezuela no longer have diplomatic relations since Bogotá recognized Maduro's rival Juan Guaidó as Venezuelan interim president in early 2019. The Colombian government of President Iván Duque regularly accuses Maduro of providing shelter to members of the guerrilla ELN and FARC fighters who do not recognize the peace agreement concluded with Bogotá in 2016.

Source: Kleine Zeitung

Photo: Canal Caribe