Nicolas Maduro claims Colombia planning new mercenary attacks on Venezuela ‘at the end of this year’ or first days of 2021

 

29 Dec, 2020 14:28

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FILE PHOTO © Reuters / Carlos Garcia Rawlins 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has alleged that forces inside Colombia, backed by the President Ivan Duque, are plotting to attack the Venezuelan military in the next couple of days.

“Colombia is preparing new attacks against the country's military, with trained mercenaries, with funding from [president] Ivan Duque, preparing attacks at the end of this year or the first days of 2021,” Maduro said in a Monday speech while praising the national armed forces.

The president was referencing a May incident, which greatly heightened tensions between Caracas and Bogota. Then, the Venezuelan military engaged a squad of armed individuals who were trying to infiltrate the country, killing several of them and capturing over a dozen, including two former US Green Berets.

The group also apparently had connections to local anti-government cells, which had provided them with vehicles and supplies.

The Venezuelan government pinned the blame for the failed incursion on Colombia and the US, with Maduro claiming that the group's objective was “to kill the president of Venezuela.” Both Bogota and Washington denied these accusations, dismissing them as “unfounded.”

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The contentious incident itself came around a year after a failed military coup attempt led by the Venezuelan opposition headed by Juan Guaido, who was openly supported by the US and some of its allies.