Venezuela to deploy 15,000 troops to borders
Mar 16, 2012, 2:36 AM
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela’s defense minister says the military will deploy about 15,000 soldiers to regions along the country’s borders in order to combat armed groups and drug trafficking.
Gen. Henry Rangel Silva told the state-run Venezuelan News Agency that the troops will spread out along Venezuela’s borders with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana in an operation aimed at boosting security.
The defense minister did not say when the deployment will begin, but he said on Thursday that about 2,000 troops have been deployed already to southwestern Tachira state.
Rangel also said that 14 Colombians and three Venezuelans have been detained in the killings of two Venezuelan soldiers on Saturday in the town of Rubio, near the border with Colombia.
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