New attacks by FARC dissidents at the border: they claim that there have been deaths and injuries among Venezuelan soldiers

There are no official figures, but military sources report several military officials killed and others injured in at least two attacks on armed forces at the border. After the visit of members of the high command of the armed forces in the State of Apure, in particular the commanders of the National Guard, the Navy and the Bolivarian militia, for three consecutive days, in a surveillance patrol that the Navy conducted in the region of influence Naval Post of Rio Arauca International, the Venezuelan soldiers were attacked twice, near the La Capilla sector. “They were waiting for them and as soon as they arrived, they exploited them,” said a soldier who survived in the region.

At 8 o’clock in the morning, they shoot the LF-2 Ø boat, they suspect that it was a sniper, hitting the SM3 Luis Felipe Mago Herrera, place of the seventh riverine infantry brigade “GB Franz Rísquez Iribarren “of Amazonas (BRIMF7). A few minutes later, the “B” river platoon received an attack, this time with sustained fire from automatic weapons and machine guns; In both encounters, the organic weapons of the boat crews were used, breaking contact and returning to river command.

One day before, very early in the morning of Friday April 23, When everything seemed calm and the tension was gone after a month of attack that the armed forces carried out against the camp alias Ferley of the FARC-Gentil Duarte, Once again, La Victoria and the rural populations of Tres Esquinas and El Ripial, even on the Colombian side in Arauquita, heard explosions and gunshots, which set off alarms..

The next day, April 24, they heard planes flying over the border area, in particular the parish of Urdaneta in the municipality of Páez. The neighbors of La Victoria assure that the incident occurred with a helicopter which was about to land in a makeshift camp of the Venezuelan army.

For their part, the military showed confusion over the disappearance of several of his companions. “A colleague of Edicson is missing, after injuring his leg, another was shot four times in the legs,” said a soldier.

Another officer assured that “they killed Naywill Torres Moreno, Comando de Mar, son of Captain Torres Falcón, deputy director of the Naval Academy. Naywill was a military tactical paratrooper, naval command officer and director of the special operations course, he studied at the Comando del Mar school preparing himself as a basic explosivist, combat diver, parachutist, he was very prepared “.

“They were leaving the place. Naywill comes out in front with two other companions, and remains covering Aular, who when he retires sees Naywill on the ground with a bullet in the face or the neck ”.

“Sergeant Lira detonated a mortar shell in the face and lasted 45 minutes, while the companions assisted him, but it was fatal because the enemies had time to gather and receive the support of the camps, because all this is full of camps“.

He assures us that the irregulars do not specify which group they belong to, but he suspects that they are the FARC-Gentil “they have snipers, those who fire automatic weapons and the riflemen, well organized in small groups of people. five”.

“Paz Acosta was shot, but he was only rubbed on his right arm, but the other shot broke his left arm and they are going to operate on him. Belisario was shot in both legs. Medina was shot in the groin and was in very poor condition, he decomposed from loss of blood. Leal is shot in the arm. Riera shot in the shoulder ”.

The antecedent

On April 2, in the El Troncal sector, the Bolivarian navy carried out tactical actions to block and contain the navigation channel. A military report underlines that, within the framework of the activity, “the ship L1, during actions of observation and listening (on land), detected the advance of a truck”, with two individuals carrying long guns and wireless communications equipment. As well as two motorcycles, as they headed down the La Capilla-Santa Rosa road.

They informed the CA Joel Adrián Mena Sorett, commander of the Fluvial Infantry Brigade No. 6 “Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual”, who order to intercept and neutralize the vehicle, which was hit with 40mm grenades in its front right door, maintaining a sustained fire, the motorcycles fled towards the Santa Rosa area.

When they asked for air support and ground combat units to secure and contain the area, the Venezuelan soldiers who were part of the riverine team on land fought the irregulars. When the fire stopped, they approached the truck where they found “” various war materials: rifle, RPG, cylinder, ammunition and explosives “, while noticing that the truck was armored in the body and glass. They destroy the vehicle on the spot and the soldiers are transferred to the road to La Victoria.

Official visit

On April 18, 2021, Armed Forces Information Networks demonstrated the Scorpion C90 weapon system, coaxial machine guns and minesweeper tanks, announcing that it was “the latest practice and firing and operational readiness test ”. The exercise took place at the Simón Bolívar shooting range in Fuerte Tiuna.

It was pointed out that the armed forces through the army “broke with all dependency regimes, building and testing demining systems. demining of Venezuelan territory weapons created by Colombian narco-terrorists, activity within the framework of the global defense of the homeland ”.

It was announced that day that said systems were placed under the command of Chief Admiral Remigio Ceballos Ichaso, Chief of Strategic Operational Command (Ceofanb), “so that they leave as soon as possible to fulfill their mission of Sovereignty and independence in our Apure is part of the fragmentary order of operations of the Bolivarian shield Apure is Our 2021 ”, noting that 30 Scorpion C90 tanks, 10 minesweepers and 150 coaxial machine guns would arrive in Apure.

On April 22, the Commander of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), Major General Fabio Enrique Zavarse Pabón, visited Apure State to oversee the replacement of border posts in the city of La Victoria, in the municipality of Páez. The next day it was Admiral William Serantes who, along with the Naval High Command, visited the naval post on the Arauca Binational River. The 24 corresponds to the head of the militia, Major General Manuel Gregorio Bernal Martínez, head of the militia, who announces the command meeting with the military leaders of the militia in Apure. On the same day, an incident occurred in the area of ​​La Capilla, in the state of Apure, when Venezuelan navy soldiers were attacked.

It should be noted that on April 24, General Bernal Martínez reported on the command meeting with the heads of the integral defense zones (ADI), the Popular Groups for Integral Defense (APDI), Popular Base for Integral Defense (BPDI ) assigned to the militia in the state of Apure, assured the senior official that he had to “organize the people in arms to guarantee national sovereignty and independence”.

For his part, the general commander of the navy, Admiral William Miguel Serantes Pinto, had declared the day before that “we are deployed here in Apure to deal with any structured group of organized crime, those groups which have entered or have the intention to enter our territory for their illegal activities, it is our task to maintain and preserve the sovereignty of our territory ”.

There is no official information, as the facts are still developing. The only thing clear is that once again the guerrillas mourned the Venezuelan armed forces.

KEEP READING: