Venezuela’s Maduro warns of Colombia attack, orders military exercises
CARACAS, (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday ordered the armed forces to be on alert for a potential attack by Colombia’s government and announced military exercises on the border amid the rearmament of a group of former guerrilla commanders.
Former FARC guerillas on Thursday announced a rearmament in a video that Colombian authorities believe was filmed in Venezuela, spurring concern of a worsening of the Colombian armed conflict and expansion of armed groups in Venezuela.
“I’ve ordered the strategic operations commander of the Bolivarian Armed Forces and all the military units on the border to declare an alert ... in the face of the threatened aggression by Colombia toward Venezuela,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast.
A set of military exercises that are carried out each year will be held between Sept. 10 and Sept. 29 in the states of Zulia, Tachira, Apure and Amazonas, which border Colombia, Maduro said. They are the third such exercises this year.
Despite the dramatic rhetoric, the statements are consistent with frequent disputes between the two nations for over a decade that at times included troop movements for political effect. Previous spats have ended in grudging reconciliation.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Colombian authorities have repeatedly denied planning to attack Venezuela.
The United States, which has launched a broad set of sanctions against Maduro’s government in efforts to hasten his departure, says Venezuela’s government provides a safe haven to Colombian armed groups.
Earlier, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido backed the use of satellites to help locate guerrilla groups that have crossed into Venezuela. BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) - Argentina’s peso surged yesterday, pumped up by Wall Street traders cheering President Mauricio Macri’s capital controls that are aimed at protecting the beleaguered currency.
The peso closed 5.39% higher at 55.98 per U.S. dollar, traders said, its strongest level in a week after a near record low close on Friday. Country risk, which soared to its highest level in more than a decade last month, also fell.
Traders said the central bank intervened to support the peso in the afternoon by selling dollars from its reserves. The bank, which declined to comment, has intervened in the past, selling nearly a billion dollars in the second half of last week alone.
The currency rebound gives some relief to Macri, after a shock primary election battering last month sparked a sharp crash in the country’s bonds, equities and the peso, which lost around 26% of its value against the greenback in August alone.
Argentina’s S&P Merval stock index, however, took a hit in afternoon trading, closing down 11.9% at a twoyear low in a slide that local analysts attributed to global trade jitters.
“All the markets are in the red and a weakened country like Argentina, with a complicated political situation, gets hits even more,” said Hector Scasserra, director of local brokerage firm Arpenta Sociedad de Bolsa.