Re: Venezuela
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 1:34 pm
The Border Heats Up: This Is How Venezuela's War Goes Against Colombia's Paramilitaries
Mission Truth
Jun 21 · 5 min read
Photo: Reuters
This week the Los Rastrojos narco-paramilitary gang failed to attack the Venezuelan army when it was passing through an area of Catatumbo, a border municipality in Zulia state.
According recounts journalist Madelein García, the paramilitary cell attacked a column of vehicles of the Venezuelan army was passing through the bridge connecting Middle Caño Caño Motilona, two sectors of the aforementioned zuliano municipality. The combat lasted an hour and four members of Los Rastrojos were killed, said the journalist.
Photo: Madelein García
The area where the clash between the Venezuelan military and the irregular forces occurred is part of the trails that connect Venezuela with Colombia, controlled by Los Rastrojos for fuel smuggling and human trafficking.
Regarding the latter, President Nicolás Maduro has been reiterative in alerting the threat that, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuelans are entering the country illegally without going through the proper epidemiological controls that the state has ordered to execute at the borders.
Probably the event on Wednesday is connected to the coup against Los Rastrojos on June 14, three days before, when the 12th Army Caribbean Brigade, which was in a patrol operation, dismantled a camp of the aforementioned paramilitary band in the same site, after a confrontation against its members.
At that time, ZODI Zulia reported the seizure of war material such as explosives, antipersonnel mines, AK-47 rifle chargers and grenades.
Photo: El Pitazo
Since the national government ordered the mandatory social quarantine throughout the country, other events related to the irregular group have occurred in Venezuelan states that border Colombia, while health, police and military personnel have been deployed at the Comprehensive Social Assistance Points (PASI ) to attend to and detect cases of Covid-19 in the migrant population that is returning to Venezuela, in order to avoid a further increase in the number of infections imported from the neighboring country, which already exceed 1,500 cases.
Freddy Bernal, protector of the Táchira state, announced on April 24 the capture of Juan Montero Buitrago, chief financial officer of Los Rastrojos.
Bernal denounced that Buitrago "has an extensive record for smuggling gasoline, drug trafficking, and extortion." In Colombian media he is identified as the maximum leader of the gang in Norte de Santander, Colombia.
On May 20, Moisés David Contreras Santana, lieutenant of the paramilitary group in Coloncito, Táchira, was arrested and seized weapons and equipment for military use.
Ten days later, Bernal reported that three other paramilitary members of Los Rastrojos had been captured, during an operation to combat the mafias that are transferring people by illegal steps from Colombia to Venezuela.
2020: data on narco-paramilitary violence in Colombia
In recent weeks, clashes between irregular gangs have occurred in the Colombian region that borders Venezuela.
W Radio , citing the inhabitants of the town of Banco de Arena, rural area of Cúcuta, reported on June 2 that there were several detonations and rifle shots, accusing Los Rastrojos and the Colombian guerrilla group ELN as the authors of the event.
The Colombian attorney general, Fernando Carrillo Flórez, denounced an increase in the forced recruitment of minors, pointing not only to guerrilla movements, but also to criminal structures linked to drug trafficking, kidnappings and homicides, acts that continue to be carried out in parallel to the emergency. currently in the country, forcing the forced displacement of communities away from the territories in conflict, although that implies the risk of getting Covid-19.
Among the armed groups that the head of the Public Ministry listed are the Rastrojos, the Urabeños and the Águilas Negras, all with open files on the war against Venezuela.
Despite the fact that the Peace Accords have been signed for four years, the Office of the Attorney General indicated that in 30% of Colombian territory, especially in rural areas, children and adolescents continue to be affected by the disputes triggered by paramilitarism and the drug trafficking.
The victims of the war of criminal gangs grow in the interior of Colombia. Photo: Colprensa
Similarly, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), cited by El Espectador , revealed the worrying figures regarding the 43 mass displacements detected in Colombia so far in 2020; due to the clashes between illegal armed groups, 11,800 people had to flee their homes, while another 1,000 more did so due to threats.
The affected departments are Nariño, Chocó, Antioquia, Norte de Santander and Cauca. Furthermore, UNHCR mentions that in Norte de Santander there were more confinements due to the confrontations.
The threat of Los Rastrojos on this side of the border
The FANB has had to remain in permanent military exercises in this period of pandemic, even more so after the terrorist incursion of Operation Gideon failed.
The low intensity war of paramilitaries against the Venezuelan state does not give up despite the global health emergency.
In this sense, and as the Venezuelan president himself has denounced, it should not be ruled out that the transfer of Venezuelans by gangs is a deliberate action by paramilitary groups, in alliance with the Colombian extreme right, to damage the effective control that exists in the pandemic country.
A recent action that could be triggering the latest clashes with Los Rastrojos is the new gasoline distribution plan in the country, which, by cutting the waste on the input subsidy, would be affecting the interests of the mafias that smuggle gasoline.
The relationship of this criminal gang with the leaders of anti-Chavism who are leading the coup against Venezuela is obvious.
The images of Guaidó being escorted by Jhon Jairo Durán Contreras, alias “Menor”, and Albeiro Lobo Quintero, alias “Brother”, who toured the world in 2019, became, that year, the main evidence of a series of investigations compiled by the Venezuelan government, where it is shown that, beyond criminal activities, narco-paramilitary cells have been incorporated into the destabilization scheme against Venezuela that the Casa de Nariño itself promotes.
https://medium.com/@misionverdad2012/se ... 7a126adf63
Google Translator
Mission Truth
Jun 21 · 5 min read
Photo: Reuters
This week the Los Rastrojos narco-paramilitary gang failed to attack the Venezuelan army when it was passing through an area of Catatumbo, a border municipality in Zulia state.
According recounts journalist Madelein García, the paramilitary cell attacked a column of vehicles of the Venezuelan army was passing through the bridge connecting Middle Caño Caño Motilona, two sectors of the aforementioned zuliano municipality. The combat lasted an hour and four members of Los Rastrojos were killed, said the journalist.
Photo: Madelein García
The area where the clash between the Venezuelan military and the irregular forces occurred is part of the trails that connect Venezuela with Colombia, controlled by Los Rastrojos for fuel smuggling and human trafficking.
Regarding the latter, President Nicolás Maduro has been reiterative in alerting the threat that, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuelans are entering the country illegally without going through the proper epidemiological controls that the state has ordered to execute at the borders.
Probably the event on Wednesday is connected to the coup against Los Rastrojos on June 14, three days before, when the 12th Army Caribbean Brigade, which was in a patrol operation, dismantled a camp of the aforementioned paramilitary band in the same site, after a confrontation against its members.
At that time, ZODI Zulia reported the seizure of war material such as explosives, antipersonnel mines, AK-47 rifle chargers and grenades.
Photo: El Pitazo
Since the national government ordered the mandatory social quarantine throughout the country, other events related to the irregular group have occurred in Venezuelan states that border Colombia, while health, police and military personnel have been deployed at the Comprehensive Social Assistance Points (PASI ) to attend to and detect cases of Covid-19 in the migrant population that is returning to Venezuela, in order to avoid a further increase in the number of infections imported from the neighboring country, which already exceed 1,500 cases.
Freddy Bernal, protector of the Táchira state, announced on April 24 the capture of Juan Montero Buitrago, chief financial officer of Los Rastrojos.
Bernal denounced that Buitrago "has an extensive record for smuggling gasoline, drug trafficking, and extortion." In Colombian media he is identified as the maximum leader of the gang in Norte de Santander, Colombia.
On May 20, Moisés David Contreras Santana, lieutenant of the paramilitary group in Coloncito, Táchira, was arrested and seized weapons and equipment for military use.
Ten days later, Bernal reported that three other paramilitary members of Los Rastrojos had been captured, during an operation to combat the mafias that are transferring people by illegal steps from Colombia to Venezuela.
2020: data on narco-paramilitary violence in Colombia
In recent weeks, clashes between irregular gangs have occurred in the Colombian region that borders Venezuela.
W Radio , citing the inhabitants of the town of Banco de Arena, rural area of Cúcuta, reported on June 2 that there were several detonations and rifle shots, accusing Los Rastrojos and the Colombian guerrilla group ELN as the authors of the event.
The Colombian attorney general, Fernando Carrillo Flórez, denounced an increase in the forced recruitment of minors, pointing not only to guerrilla movements, but also to criminal structures linked to drug trafficking, kidnappings and homicides, acts that continue to be carried out in parallel to the emergency. currently in the country, forcing the forced displacement of communities away from the territories in conflict, although that implies the risk of getting Covid-19.
Among the armed groups that the head of the Public Ministry listed are the Rastrojos, the Urabeños and the Águilas Negras, all with open files on the war against Venezuela.
Despite the fact that the Peace Accords have been signed for four years, the Office of the Attorney General indicated that in 30% of Colombian territory, especially in rural areas, children and adolescents continue to be affected by the disputes triggered by paramilitarism and the drug trafficking.
The victims of the war of criminal gangs grow in the interior of Colombia. Photo: Colprensa
Similarly, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), cited by El Espectador , revealed the worrying figures regarding the 43 mass displacements detected in Colombia so far in 2020; due to the clashes between illegal armed groups, 11,800 people had to flee their homes, while another 1,000 more did so due to threats.
The affected departments are Nariño, Chocó, Antioquia, Norte de Santander and Cauca. Furthermore, UNHCR mentions that in Norte de Santander there were more confinements due to the confrontations.
The threat of Los Rastrojos on this side of the border
The FANB has had to remain in permanent military exercises in this period of pandemic, even more so after the terrorist incursion of Operation Gideon failed.
The low intensity war of paramilitaries against the Venezuelan state does not give up despite the global health emergency.
In this sense, and as the Venezuelan president himself has denounced, it should not be ruled out that the transfer of Venezuelans by gangs is a deliberate action by paramilitary groups, in alliance with the Colombian extreme right, to damage the effective control that exists in the pandemic country.
A recent action that could be triggering the latest clashes with Los Rastrojos is the new gasoline distribution plan in the country, which, by cutting the waste on the input subsidy, would be affecting the interests of the mafias that smuggle gasoline.
The relationship of this criminal gang with the leaders of anti-Chavism who are leading the coup against Venezuela is obvious.
The images of Guaidó being escorted by Jhon Jairo Durán Contreras, alias “Menor”, and Albeiro Lobo Quintero, alias “Brother”, who toured the world in 2019, became, that year, the main evidence of a series of investigations compiled by the Venezuelan government, where it is shown that, beyond criminal activities, narco-paramilitary cells have been incorporated into the destabilization scheme against Venezuela that the Casa de Nariño itself promotes.
https://medium.com/@misionverdad2012/se ... 7a126adf63
Google Translator