Venezuelan Foreign Minister minister Delcy Rodríguez issued a statement via twitter in response to criticisms made Saturday by U.S. State Department Spokesman John Kirby, who criticized the Venezuela’s decision to deport roughly 1,000 undocumented Colombians.
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Following an incident two weeks ago in which three Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian were injured by smugglers on the Venezuelan side of the border, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of the border near the town of Cucuta.
While Colombian descendants wade across the muddy waters of the Táchira River that separates Venezuela and Colombia, Colombian reggaeton artist, J Balvin, took to social media to decry Maduro’s ill-treatment of his fellow Colombians and declare that all “Latinos Are Family”.
More than 7,000 others have crossed back into Colombia out of fear of deportations, according to Colombian officials.
Hundreds of Colombians are voluntarily – and involuntarily – fleeing Venezuela after Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, initiated a crackdown on immigration last week, announcing that any residents of Colombian descent living in Venezuela would be forced to leave the country and their homes will be marked for demolishment shortly thereafter.
On Saturday, Kirby voiced his “concern” through a press release about the situation concerning Venezuela-Colombia border, wherein Venezuelan authorities are deporting illegal Colombians or those linked to alleged criminal actions, saying that his country will work to help “guarantee” the human rights of the repatriated Colombians.
Some said they had been mistreated by the Venezuelan security forces.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister issued a statement Sunday defending her country’s immigration policies.
Venezuela has long accused Colombia of fueling drug trafficking and contraband smuggling in the border region.
“I’m going because I’m just fed up”, she said.
“I propose that a South American commission of the truth comes to our nation and visits Colombia to examine the border situation and its problems such as drug trafficking, paramilitary groups and the economic war against our people”, Maduro said.
The OAS scheduled a special meeting on the border crisis for Monday, while UNASUR failed to convene one, according to presiding nation Uruguay because “the agenda of the foreign ministers is very complex”.
The two countries recalled their respective ambassadors as tensions rose.
Venezuela has long used its oil wealth to fund price controls that keep goods like rice and toilet paper up to 10 times cheaper than in Colombia.
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Maduro said he would not lift the closure of his country’s borders with Colombia, until Bogota stops the smuggling of Venezuelan products and its attacks on the bolivar currency, Maduro said.
