The recent arrival in Brazil of five venezuelan soldiers suspected of an attack on a military base, the past day 22 in the south of his country, has renewed bilateral tensions. There are hundreds of those in uniform who have abandoned their units to cross over to the neighbouring countries, especially to Colombia, during the last few months in response to an appeal of John Guaidó, recognized by over 50 countries as president of Venezuela. This time the impact is different since Nicolás Maduro has linked directly with the assault on an outpost in the south of the country in which he died a soldier and were taken from rifles and rocket launchers, most of which have already been recovered, according to him.
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at The end of last week, Maduro claimed Brazil for the delivery of the five military. Venezuela initially blamed the attack on Colombia, Peru and Brazil, which, although they are governed all by opponents of chavez, have denied categorically his participation in the attack. In a speech to the military, Maduro referred to the matter and revealed that the venezuelan soldiers were persecuted to the same boundary. “Our Army came to the border, and saw the attackers terrorists on the other side. We had a dilemma: go and catch them and traérnoslos or respect the border and the sovereignty of Brazil. We made the right decision in accordance with the international law. The brazilian territory is sacred,” he said, as reported by the agency France Presse. But he did his delivery because “a deserter who enters another country must be returned immediately.”
The five military personnel were located last December 26 by the brazilian Army during a patrol in the vicinity of the sole border post between the two countries in more than 2,000 kilometres of common border. The brazilian authorities reported that they were unarmed and that, after being questioned at the border, they began to process their asylum requests, according to a joint statement from the ministries of Foreign affairs and Defence. Although the note ministerial included no reference to the fatal attack on the base in venezuela, a source brazilian military itself acknowledged in a statement to Reuters that the newcomers were suspected of having participated in the assault.
Caracas also appealed to the Government of the brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro cooperation against terrorism and international law: “Venezuela expects to have a greater collaboration on the part of the authorities of Brazil as a result of the cooperation that must prevail among States in the fight against terrorism and threats to the social peace”, according to a note from the venezuelan ministry of Foreign affairs.
The attack on 22 December against a military installation in the Gran Sabana, an area of the amazon remote located to the south of Venezuela, near the border post of Pacaraima, caused the death of a soldier. The assailants stole in addition to 120 rifles and nine rocket-launchers, of which 111 guns and eight rocket launchers have been recovered.
Although Brazil was one of the first countries to recognize Guaidó as president and is one of the most active in its demand that Maduro should leave office in order to resolve the serious crisis economic, political and social conditions in which it is immersed Venezuela, unchecked of those who aired the possibility of an armed intervention. In parallel, it keeps a operating in the border area in order to accommodate civil and military, who are fleeing from the catastrophic situation and recently gave asylum 21,000 venezuelans in a single day. A gesture praised by the UN at a time when countries such as Colombia or Peru, which have received many, many, many more venezuelans than Brazil, harden the conditions to be installed in its territory.
