Sixteen Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian were killed when a military helicopter crashed on Sunday near the Colombian border, the state news agency reported. A brigadier general was among those killed.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the soldiers were patrolling the 2,300km border separating Venezuela and Colombia when the local military base lost contact with their Mi-17 helicopter shortly after midday. The helicopter crashed in a mountainous area called El Capote, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported.
Two pilots and the entire crew were killed. Army Brigadier General Domingo Alberto Feneite and Cristian Velazquez, a civilian, were among the victims, the news agency said.
Chavez sent condolences to the families of the victims during his weekly television and radio program.
“They died while they were on duty and serving the fatherland,” he said.
Neither Chavez nor the military mentioned the cause of the crash.
Chavez said dozens of Venezuelan soldiers had lost their lives in recent years trying to prevent violence from Colombia’s armed conflict from spilling over into Venezuela.
The socialist leader also rebuked US allegations that his government has failed to prevent border incursions by Colombian rebels and right-wing paramilitaries.
“They say we don’t patrol the border. How many lives has Colombia’s conflict cost us Venezuelans? Eighteen Venezuelans dead today,” Chavez said.
The US State Department’s annual assessment of terrorism released last week said Venezuela “did not systematically police” the border.
It said both Colombian rebels and right-wing paramilitaries “regularly crossed into Venezuelan territory to rest and regroup as well as to extort protection money.”
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