A man shows a paper to a Venezuelan soldier, while he waits to try to cross the Simon Bolivar global bridge, on the border with Colombia, at San Antonio in Tachira state, Venezuela August 22, 2015.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro extended indefinitely the closure of a popular border crossing with Colombia, while declaring a 60-day state of emergency in several western cities in an attempt to reassert control in a notoriously lawless where three army officers were shot.
The search, it said, is being carried out in an area of Tachira state “invaded” illegally by around 1,900 families, 90 percent of whose members are “of Colombian origin”.
The move to ramp up government forces came after three soldiers were injured in a shootout on Wednesday.
“This border will remain closed until further notice, until we regularize our socioeconomic life”, Maduro said, after confirming that his decision followed the ambush of a military patrol.
Venezuela’s Northwestern state of Tachira, where the incident took place, is a hotbed for food and gasoline smuggling as well as black market exchange; activities which have paved the way for authoritative mafias on both sides of the border.
An exodus of goods has worsened widespread shortages in Venezuela, with Maduro long alleging that foes of his socialist government are waging a campaign of “economic war” ahead of legislative elections scheduled for December. His critics say that the nation’s economic woes, including the world’s highest inflation rate, are self-inflicted.
Maduro on Friday ordered a closure of the area until Sunday following an attack in which four people were wounded.
He said the only ones who gain from closing the borders are the smugglers, while for everyone else it causes “inconvenience, annoyance, and makes a lot of innocent people pay for the broken crockery”.
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Santos also called for a meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers next week.
