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Venezuelan president demands Colombia crackdown on smuggling

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, clarified on Thursday that he would not lift the closure of his country's border with Colombia, until Bogota stopped the smuggling of Venezuelan products and its attacks on the bolivar currency.

He further called upon Colombian authorities to "come to their senses" and offer concrete solutions to re-established security and calm, to protect its people along the Venezuelan border.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos drew Maduro's ire after criticizing the way Venezuela had handled the deportations of over 1,000 Colombians living in the border province of Tachira, denouncing the move as "illegal".

However, Maduro responded by saying that, during the deportations, Venezuelan troops had found a paramilitary base along the Tachira river inside Venezuela, where numerous crimes were committed, including sexual exploitation, kidnapping and smuggling.

"I have proof, videos and testimonies. President Santos can prove it himself but he lies...We cannot permit a paramilitary base on the Venezuelan border and you (Santos) could not permit it either," he stated. Endit