Venezuela's Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino rejected new unfounded accusations by Colombia's President Ivan Duque, who seeks to torpedo the internal political dialogue initiated with the opposition in the Bolivarian nation.
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On Saturday, five Colombian military personnel were killed and six others were wounded in an attack claimed by the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas. The event occurred in the Arauquita municipality in the bordering Arauca department.
Duque accused the Bolivarian government of coordinating the attack with ELN guerrillas while claiming that Venezuela offers support and refuge to Colombian illegal armed groups.
Describing these statements as "slanderous," Padrino noted that Duque's remarks were nothing but a ploy to divert attention from Colombia's internal situation and the constant acts of intimidation against Venezuela.
The meme reads, "Venezuelan soldiers continued to be deployed in contingency sites nationwide, where heavy rainfall caused havoc. The soldiers of the homeland will always be with the people, collaborating, helping. Only the people save the people."
"I regret the loss of the Colombian soldiers who are also victims of the genocidal and treacherous policy of the Colombian oligarchy. We continue to pray for peace in Colombia," Padrino tweeted.
For his part, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia recalled acts of destabilization planned and organized from Colombia against the Bolivarian government and other nations in the region.
He mentioned the training of Colombian and Venezuelan mercenaries for the failed interventionist "Gedeon" operation, the murder of Venezuelan civilians and soldiers in the border region of Apure early this year, and Haitian President Jovenel Moise's assassination by Colombian mercenaries on July 7.
"We reject Ivan Duque's slanderous and false accusations without foundation. It is from Colombia, the factory of mercenaries, that the region and other latitudes are destroyed. It is in Colombia, the cradle of violence, from where its peoples are threatened," Plasencia stressed.