“In Venezuela there is no room for armed groups, for outlaw groups”, said Defense Minister Vladimír Padrino López on Monday, while saying that this has been an instruction by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, and a policy of the Venezuelan State.
The statement was made regarding the attack perpetrated against members of the Bolivarian National Guard, in El Picatonal, Amazonas state (south), which would have occurred after the capture of the rebel leader Luis Ortega -a.k.a. ‘Garganta’.
Padrino López expressed his rejection of the inability shown by the Colombian government to control violence, drug trafficking and armed groups for more than 60 years, a situation of which Venezuela has been a victim.
He also criticized their refusal to discuss this kind of issues. “I got tired of asking the previous government’s Minister of Defense to talk, but it was not possible. In an irresponsible manner, the Colombian government has refused to discuss common issues”.
Padrino criticized the position of the political and media operatives of the Colombian right wing and oligarchy, who immediately went out to point out President Maduro as protector of these armed groups. He said that everything is part of an attack strategy: “You can see where the strategy comes from”.
He asked the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to act with great prudence: “because there is the strategy, to provoke a false positive on the border to develop a more intense escalade”.
He also reported that the preliminary author of this action has been identified as Luis Felipe Ortega Bernal, with a Colombian identity card number 96,186-752, known under the “Salcedo” alias, who was requested by Interpol, with a blue alert.
