Eight bodies were taken to the morgue at the municipal cemetery in San Fernando, Apure, in the hours after Venezuela’s armed forces bombed a suspected camp belonging to Colombian guerrillas, according to Venezuelan NGO Fundaredes. The reported operation took place near the border with Colombia.
Witness accounts collected by the NGO indicated that the site was used by a cell of the National Liberation Army (ELN) fleeing operations by the Colombian military across the border. Fundaredes said the dead reportedly included two Venezuelans, two Colombians and four Mexicans.
The report of the Venezuelan military operation comes as Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has announced the deployment of armed forces and police units in Apure for preventive purposes. He said Venezuela needed to take precautions to prevent people living in the country from being drawn into a conflict that was not its own.
Cabello added that Venezuela did not want internal conflict or conflicts that did not belong to the country. The information about the deaths and the reported operation was attributed to Fundaredes and local testimonies; no further details were provided in the source report.
Sources: ANSA Mondo.