The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on Sunday ordered the deployment of 25 thousand military personnel from the Bolivarian National Armed Force to reinforce the country’s defence, local press media highlight today.

From this Monday, the military force is safeguarding the Binational Zone of Peace with Colombia and the Venezuelan coasts to the Caribbean Sea, as part of the Rapid Reaction Unit Operations to guarantee the defence of sovereignty, peace and the nation’s security, reports the Venezuelan News Agency.

“I ordered the deployment of 25 thousand men and women of the glorious Bolivarian National Armed Force, to reinforce the Rapid Reaction Unit Operations, in the Binational Zone of Peace with Colombia and the Caribbean front, from La Guajira to Falcón, and reinforce all operations on the eastern Caribbean-Atlantic front of the states of Nueva Esparta, Sucre and Delta Amacuro,” published the head of state on his social networks.

According to the Minister of Defence, Vladimir Padrino López, the deployment includes naval means and drones, in the Sierra de Perijá, to verify the non-existence of illicit crops.

Likewise, he mentioned, among the active operations, maritime and river patrolling in the state of Apure, through the Meta, Capanaparo, Cunaviche and Cinaruco rivers.

Padrino López explained that the vigilance over the Paraguaná Peninsula, in Falcón, is because “it is a drug trafficking route that we have always faced and constituted the route of Operation Gideon, financed by drug trafficking, under the government of Iván Duque”.

Equally, he announced that the same reinforcement will be carried out in the nation’s East, especially in Margarita, in the states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro, while the Bolivarian Military Aviation will patrol the Venezuelan airspace.