(2021-04-17). Venezuela Expands Operations Against Colombian Paramilitary Gangs. orinocotribune.com Venezuela has expanded military operations in the border state of Apure to capture Colombian narco-paramilitary groups and eliminate foreign aggression. | "We are stepping up operations in Apure state (bordering Colombia) to guarantee internal order and for the capture of armed Colombian drug traffickers and their collaborators in the area," declared the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (CEOFANB) account on Friday, April 16. | In this sense, the command emphasized in a post on its official Twitter account that the military will continue actions aimed at eliminating foreign aggr…
(2021-04-17). Venezuelan Army to Begin Clearing Mines in Apure State near Colombian Border. orinocotribune.com Major General Domingo Hernández Lárez, general commander of the Bolivarian Army, reported on his Twitter account that a military team has already been deployed to begin demining in the state of Apure, suffering from Colombian narco-paramilitary violence that included landmines planted to cause terror among local residents. | The minesweeper, the commander wrote, is an armored unit designed by Army engineers, dubbed the "patrol alligator." | El barremina diseñado por los ingenieros de combate del Ejército Bolivariano está listo para ir al Alto Apure e iniciar el desminado en nuestro territorio nacional del Alto Ap…
(2021-04-17). Ramsey Clark: An Essential Voice of Dissidence from the Center of US Power. orinocotribune.com 
By William Camacaro — Apr 14, 2021 | "There will be some who will remember Ramsey Clark as an outsider. There are many more who remember him as a friend of justice, the oppressed, the exploited, and the rule of law. Perhaps he himself would like to be remembered merely as someone who used the law to help others." | Curtis Doebbler, International Law Attorney | During the heat of the Gulf War under the George H. W. Bush administration, I had the opportunity in New York to meet an extraordinary human being: Ramsey Clark. It was an event to protest the State Department and Pentagon's arrogantly labeled "Operati…
(2021-04-17). Venezuelan Legislature Approves National Communal Parliament Law. venezuelanalysis.com Grassroots organizations will now debate the legislation and suggest changes to the text.
(2021-04-17). Venezuela Border Conflict Mixes Drug Trafficking and Regime-Change Ambitions. orinocotribune.com By W.T. Whitney Jr. — Apr 16, 2021 | Beginning in mid-March, Venezuelan army units have been attacking and expelling Colombian operatives active in Apure state. These have long used Venezuela's border region to prepare cocaine arriving from Colombia and ship it to the United States and Europe. The fighting has subsided; eight Venezuelan troops were killed. Seeking safety, 3,500 Venezuelans crossed the Meta River—an Orinoco tributary—to Arauca in Colombia. | The bi-national border is unmonitored and long enough, at 1367 miles, to encourage smuggling and the undocumented passage of cross-border tr…
(2021-04-17). Mayor of La Victoria: 'Colombian Paramilitary Gangs Use Robin Hood Modus Operandi to Engage with Locals'. orinocotribune.com Caracas, April 16 (OrinocoTribune.com) — On Thursday, April 15, a webinar was hosted by Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), in which the special guest was José María Romero, better known as "Chema." He is the mayor of Páez municipality in Apure state, Venezuela, which is close to the small town of La Victoria where clashes between the Venezuelan National Armed Force (FANB) and Colombian narco-paramilitary groups occurred for almost five days towards the end of March. | Due to the frankness, clarity and detailed information provided by the mayor in his statement and his replies to the questions of attendees,…
(2021-04-17). Mayor of La Victoria: 'Colombian Paramilitary Gangs Use Robin Hood Modus Operandi to Engage with Locals'. orinocotribune.com Caracas, April 16 (OrinocoTribune.com) — On Thursday, April 15, a webinar was hosted by Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), in which the special guest was José María Romero, better known as "Chema." He is the mayor of Páez municipality in Apure state, Venezuela, where is located the small town of La Victoria where clashes between the Venezuelan National Armed Force (FANB) and Colombian narco-paramilitary groups occurred for almost five days towards the end of March. | Due to the frankness, clarity and detailed information provided by the mayor in his statement and his replies to the questions of attendees,…
(2021-04-17). Venezuela Border Conflict Mixes Drug Trafficking And Regime-Change. popularresistance.org Beginning in mid-March, Venezuelan army units have been attacking and expelling Colombian operatives active in Apure state. These have long used Venezuela's border region to prepare cocaine arriving from Colombia and ship it to the United States and Europe. The fighting has subsided; eight Venezuelan troops were killed. Seeking safety, 3,500 Venezuelans crossed the Meta River—an Orinoco tributary—to Arauca in Colombia. | The bi-national border is unmonitored and long enough, at 1367 miles, to encourage smuggling and the undocumented passage of cross-border travelers, in this instance the embattled Col…
(2021-04-17). Biden y Duque desatan nuevamente la guerra de las drogas con glifosato en Colombia. globalizacion.ca Un dato y un hecho de no poca importancia, para quienes nos vendieron el cuento del lado progresista del gobierno de Biden con respaldo de B. Sanders; hoy, con el aval del gobierno USA, se acaba de dar un paso…
(2021-04-16). Medical Oxygen Plant Reactivated in Venezuela to Tackle COVID-19 Spike. orinocotribune.com The company Oxígenos del Centro CA (Oxicentro), was reactivated by government authorities and the healthcare staff in the municipality of Independencia (Santa Teresa del Tuy), Miranda state, with the goal of helping to provide oxygen to healthcare centers in the region. The privately owned industrial and medicinal oxygen plant had been inoperative for more than eight years. | The facilities were supervised and refurbished by officials from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), the scientific-technological council of Miranda, and the mayor's offices of the municipalities Independencia (Santa Ter…
(2021-04-16). Venezuelan Army to Clear Mines in Border Areas With Colombia. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) on Friday began preparations to deactivate anti-personnel mines laid by illegal Colombian armed groups in Apure state. | RELATED: | FANB Commander Gen. Domingo Hernandez said that the "Patrol Caiman" armored unit will carry out the mine clearance process. | "The minesweeper designed by our combat engineers is ready to start the demining of the Alto Apure zone, where Colomb…
(2021-04-16). The Desperate Plans of the Southern Command. orinocotribune.com By Pasqualina Curcio — Apr 12, 2021 | The actions perpetrated since March 21 of this year by criminal groups coming from Colombia into La Victoria in the Venezuelan territory bordering our sister country, were not improvised. They are part of Plan B of the Southern Command to destabilize our nation and overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. | In February 2016, the then Chief of the Southern Command, Kurt Tidd, wrote in a document titled Operation Venezuela Freedom-2: "It is indispensable to emphasize that the responsibility for the elaboration, planning and partial execution of Operation Venezuela Freedom-2 at…
(2021-04-16). Venezuela border conflict mixes drug trafficking and regime-change ambitions. peoplesworld.org 
Since mid-March, Venezuelan army units have been attacking and expelling Colombian operatives active in Apure state, in western Venezuela. Colombians have long used the border regions to prepare cocaine arriving from Colombia and ship it to the United States and Europe. Fighting has subsided; eight Venezuelan troops were killed. Seeking safety, 3,500 Venezuelans crossed the …
(2021-04-16). Anti-Blockade Digital Seminar: How to Turn Sanctions into Opportunities. orinocotribune.com 
With a presentation on the origin and reasons behind the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Venezuela by the US government, Hugbel Roa, Deputy to the National Assembly for the Bloque de la Patria, participated in the anti-blockade digital seminar "Is it Possible to Develop a Besieged Country?" | The event served as a platform to analyze how the financial and commercial attack against Venezuela intensified after Nicolás Maduro won the presidential election with popular support, following the physical departure of Commander Hugo Chávez. | In his speech, Roa detailed that it was Chávez who "guaranteed not only…
(2021-04-16). Cuban Talent Replaces Expensive Imports for Venezuela. orinocotribune.com 
Today, Cuban advice in Venezuela enables the "La Mariposa" electrical transformer recovery plant to stabilize operations and proudly display a savings of millions of dollars from import substitution. | Alexis Iván Landeiro Ferro, Cuban head of the factory, explained to Cubadebate that at first the Venezuelan technicians and engineers were trained, who later joined the project, aware of the importance of the task. | Currently , more than 8,000 electrical transformers and their components have been rescued, with savings in foreign currency of around 2,000 dollars for each unit in the international market. | "The pl…
(2021-04-16). Vaccination Plan Advances: Venezuela Receives Fourth Shipment of Sputnik-V. orinocotribune.com 
Early in the morning of Thursday, April 15, the fourth shipment of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine arrived in Venezuela. These vaccines will be used to carry forward the Venezuelan immunization plan initiated on February 18. | The shipment was dispatched from Moscow, capital of the Russian Federation, and was carried by the Russian airline Azur Air. | To date, Venezuela has received 300,000 doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine, considered to be the most efficient vaccine in the world against COVID-19. | Moreover, Venezuela has included other COVID-19 vaccines in its vaccination plan, namely the Russian EpiVacCorona and t…
(2021-04-16). Armies of Neighboring Countries are Not our Military Objectives: FARC-EP Clarifies Position on Apure. orinocotribune.com The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) distanced itself from the attacks that have occurred in Apure state in recent weeks. | Through a communiqué read by [FARC guerrilla leader] Iván Márquez, the organization clarified that its battle is within Colombian territory. | Likewise, Márquez indicated that they respect the sovereignty of governments and peoples. "We do not charge taxes to any of the nationals of those countries, much less intervene in the management of their natural wealth," he said. | Along the same lines, he pointed out that the events in the border area are "regrettable a…
(2021-04-16). Venezuela Border Conflict Mixes Drug Trafficking and Regime-Change Ambitions. counterpunch.org Since mid-March Venezuelan army units have been attacking and expelling Colombian operatives active in Apure state, in western Venezuela. Colombians have long used the border regions to prepare cocaine arriving from Colombia and ship it to the United States and Europe. Fighting has subsided; eight Venezuelan troops were killed. Seeking safety, 3,500 Venezuelans crossed the
(2021-04-16). 'Keep Your War Away From Venezuela' Arreaza Urges Colombia. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza on Friday urged Colombia's President Ivan Duque to protect the Colombian borders and keep the war away from the Venezuelan territory. | RELATED: | "Colombia's armed groups reign and guard the Colombian drug routes while Duque does nothing to protect his country's borders," he tweeted. | Arreaza also rejected the declarations of Colombia's Foreign Affairs Minister Claudia Blu…
(2021-04-16). A Thief Stealing From a Thief? Almagro Charged Millions to Manage Guaidó's Loot. orinocotribune.com New revelations were made Thursday, April 15, by the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, who released an audio recording of one of those involved in the corruption plot and recalled the popular expression "a thief stealing from a thief." | This new criminal intrigue is added to the long list of crimes committed by the Juan Guaidó and his far-right entourage, and now reveals the complicity of the OAS representative Luis Almagro. | The recorded statements were made by the former deputy and Guaidó's partner, Sergio Vergara, clearly and undeniably identified on the recording, and reveals why they rej…