Maduro Accuses Colombian Paramilitary Groups of Infiltrating Venezuela Border

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that groups from neighboring Colombia were making inroads into the country to destabilize the border area.

"Paramilitary groups seep through the border to harm the people of Venezuela… and carry out a series of provocations," he was quoted by the state news agency AVN as saying Thursday.

Speaking before a military gathering in Caracas, Maduro blamed Colombian tycoons and the US government for ordering the incursions, and urged the armed forces to remain vigilant.

Previous year, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada claimed that Colombia and Mexico, were working together with the CIA to harm Venezuela. The Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the accusations by refuting all the allegations of the official.

READ MORE: Trump, Colombia President Santos Discuss ‘Deteriorating’ Crisis in Venezuela

The border between Venezuela and Colombia was closed for a year from August 2015 by Maduro's decree after an attack on the military, undertaken by smugglers. In August 2016, the two countries agreed to gradually reopen the border.