Maduro opens Back Border with Colombia after failed Arms Smuggling attempts

Three months after violent clashes broke out at the Colombia-Venezuela border, followed by the opposition’s attempt to smuggle in ‘aid,’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered border crossings to be partially reopened.

Maduro announced on Friday that the border with Colombia, which has remained closed since late February, will be reopened in western Tachira State on Saturday.

The government in Caracas ordered the opening of border crossings with Colombia in the state of Tachira beginning on Saturday, June 8,” Maduro tweeted, adding that Venezuela is a “peaceful nation” that “firmly defends its independence.”

In February, the Francisco de Paula Santander Bridge over the Tachira River, which connects Colombia to Venezuela, became the scene of a showdown between opposition forces trying to make way for the ‘aid’ trucks and the National Guard.

Images of an ‘aid truck’ engulfed in flames on the bridge became the symbol of Caracas’ crackdown, until around a month later when the mainstream media was forced to admit that the truck was in effect torched by protesters.

In the run-up to the attempt to smuggle in the cargo, Maduro closed the border , severing diplomatic relations with Colombia and expelling its diplomats from the country.

Maduro accused Bogota of meddling in Caracas’ internal affairs by allowing the USA and the opposition to turn the country into a springboard for attacking his government.

The decision to reopen a section of the border with Colombia follows Maduro’s decisions last month to reopen the border with Brazil and the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.

The maritime and air border with the island of Curacao and the Dutch island of Bonaire, both located 80 km (50 miles) off Venezuela’s coast, remains sealed since February, 2019.

Venezuelan Vice President of the Economy Tareck El Aissami said that the border with Colombia and the Dutch colonial islands would remain locked down “until the hostility and enabling of paramilitary groups to attack our people cease.”

A recently leaked audio recording of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has revealed that the opposition is deeply fragmented, and the US efforts to unite it under one banner have so far borne little fruit.

RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.