'Colombia Has Become a Regional Threat', Venezuela Warns

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino denounced that the tolerance of Colombian governments towards paramilitaries, drug traffickers, and mercenaries has generated a serious security problem in Latin America.

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"Colombia has become a threat to Venezuela and the region," he said at a swearing-in ceremony for eight new commanders of the Strategic Regions of Integral Defense (REDI).

These statements came amid mounting evidence of the involvement of Colombian mercenaries and former military personnel in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise on July 7.

The Defense Minister also recalled that some U.S.-backed opposition sectors use criminal gangs that are trained by Colombian paramilitaries to destabilize the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

"The REDI have the mission to guarantee the Republic's internal stability, order, and peace," Padrino pointed out and explained that the work deployed in all Venezuelan territories will guarantee the freedom of the homeland.

The Security Minister also mentioned that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) remain ready to respond to any attempt by those who seek to gain access to political power through unconstitutional and senseless procedures.

"The Venezuelan right wing and its foreign accomplices failed again in their attempts to balkanize the Republic by using criminal gangs," he said, referring to the actions of a criminal group in the Caracas Cota 905 neighborhood last week.

"None of that was casual... That is part of the perverse plans to destabilize the Republic," Padrino stressed.