The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela resorted to diplomatic mechanisms in order to deal with the Colombian incursion into Venezuelan territory, which took place on Saturday, May 17.

The Ministers of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, and Defense, Gustavo Rangel Briceño, offered a joint press conference to give details regarding this issue.

The Venezuelan foreign affairs minister recalled that as the Venezuelan delegation returned from the 5th Latin America, Caribbean and the European Union Summit, held in Lima, Peru, the Venezuelan foreign affairs ministry was informed about an irregular situation in a region located in Apure state (Venezuela’s southwest) which was immediately addressed and evaluated.”

He explained his office issued an official protest to the Colombian government over the incursion of the Colombian army into Venezuelan territory. He stressed that according to the pacifist nature of the Venezuelan government’s policies, “diplomatic mechanisms were activated as a means to deal with the situation.”

Maduro explained that these are “mechanisms we are permanently working on in order to demarcate borders, but we are activating them now to evaluate this irregular situation.”

Likewise, the Venezuelan foreign affairs minister confirmed that he has talked with his Colombian counterpart, Fernando Araujo, and both have agreed on dealing with this controversial situation by using the bilateral mechanisms in-force.

In this way, he pointed out that “this incident shows how our government acts in order to file its complaint and seek diplomatic mechanisms to solve this incident.”

Also, he expressed that the Bolivarian government has denounced a plan launched by the Colombian government, in coordination with the United States, in order to prompt an armed provocation against Venezuela and South American stability.

Maduro said that with these actions against Venezuela, the United States seem to be compiling a record against the Latin American left through a mechanism of political-ideological blackmail.

In addition, the Venezuelan official highlighted that President Hugo Chávez denounced in February that an armed intervention against Venezuela was underway; therefore, he thought that this new cross-border incident must be tackled in the South American Union of Nations (UNASUR) Summit, to be held on May 23 in Brasilia, Brazil’s capital city.

This is the second cross-border incident by the Colombian government in two months; the first one was the violation of the Ecuadorian sovereignty and territory, where Colombia bombarded a camp in March and killed the FARC second-in-command, Raul Reyes.

¦ Main Page ¦