Since Monday, the military force has been guarding the Binational Peace Zone with Colombia and the Venezuelan coasts of the Caribbean Sea, as part of the Rapid Reaction Unit Operations to guarantee the defense of the nation’s sovereignty, peace, and security, reports the Venezuelan News Agency.

“I ordered the deployment of 25,000 men and women of the glorious Bolivarian National Armed Forces to reinforce the operations of the Rapid Reaction Units in the Binational Peace Zone with Colombia and the Caribbean coast, from La Guajira to Falcon, and to reinforce all operations on the eastern Caribbean-Atlantic coast of the states of Nueva Esparta, Sucre, and Delta Amacuro,” the head of state posted on his social media.

According to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the deployment includes naval assets and drones in the Sierra de Perija to verify the absence of illicit crops.

He also mentioned, among the active operations, maritime and river patrols in the state of Apure, along the Meta, Capanaparo, Cunaviche, and Cinaruco rivers.

Padrino Lopez explained that the surveillance of the Paraguana Peninsula, in Falcon, is due to the fact that “it is a drug trafficking route we have always confronted and was the route for Operation Gedeon, financed by drug trafficking, under the administration of Ivan Duque.”

He also announced that the same reinforcement will be carried out in the eastern part of the nation, especially in Margarita, in the states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro, while the Bolivarian Military Aviation will patrol Venezuelan airspace.

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