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In chaotic Venezuela, guerrillas from Colombia find new territory to grow
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article212293514.html----------------------
The guerrilla group has been present along the Venezuelan-Colombian border for decades, but there are indications that the Marxist-inspired rebels are growing stronger and more brazen as they capitalize on the general chaos and security breakdown in Venezuela.
On Thursday, Javier Tarazona, with the Venezuelan human rights group REDES, asked Venezuela’s attorney general to investigate a spate of homicides and kidnappings along the border that he attributes to the ELN and other Colombian gangs.
The guerrillas “are shamelessly advancing in Venezuelan territory to completely control all of the border crossings and all of the areas along the border,” Tarazona said. “And what surprises us is the complacent attitude of the Venezuelan authorities. What surprises us is that no one is trying to stop these actions.”
Earlier this year, REDES reported that the ELN was helping deliver boxes of government-subsidized food in Venezuela and slapping its own propaganda on the products. In addition, Tarazona has accused the ELN of distributing leaflets, notebooks and coloring books at primary schools in at least eight states as part of an “indoctrination program.”
2 replies
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According to sources in this very forum, it is "right wing groups" (unnamed) that are causing all of these problems with violence and death.
Of course, throughout the 52 years that the FARC/ELN was doing business in Colombia, they were doing this very thing to the poor, rural folk who wouldn't take up arms with them and become part of their Glorious Revolution.
FWIW, it isn't complacency by the Venezuelan government. They are actually in league with these guerrillas. They actually have the ELN deliver the CLAP boxes to the rural poor with the ELN logo slapped on the side.
