Caracas, September 10 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez will meet with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the closure of Venezuela's border with Colombia.
According to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Rodriguez arrived in New York Wednesday where she will speak with Ban about the measure taken by the Venezuelan government to dissolve paramilitary and smuggling activities in the boundary zone with Colombia. More than 1,000 Colombians have been deported in the operation sparked by suspected paramilitaries’ wounding of three Venezuelan soldiers.
Maduro said that during his recent trip to China, he met with Ban to ask for his support in order to halt the mass exodus of Colombian citizens to Venezuela: more than 5,000 have flocked to the home of the Bolivarian Revolution to seek refuge from internal conflicts.
Earlier this week, Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin held her own meeting with Ban to discuss the Venezuelan border closure.
Holguin said that the conversation had been positive and claimed that the human rights of Colombians have been “violated” in their repatriation. The Venezuelan government denies these accusations, as have Colombian refugees who fled the violence in their country.
Maduro declared a State of Exception in August to eradicate the presence of Colombian paramilitaries in Venezuela. Police discovered dozens of these death squads working in the country, including The Urabeños, one of the biggest paramilitary groups in Colombia.