Tensions mounted between Venezuela and Colombia on Tuesday as Caracas accused Bogota of detaining four of its soldiers in international waters.
The four members of Venezuela’s national guard who were detained in Colombia on Saturday and released a day later were not on Colombian territory when they were taken, a Venezuelan national guard general said late on Monday.
“They were approached by Colombian military forces ... in the Meta River. The Meta River is part of international waters,” said Orlando Mijares, a general in the national guard and regional commander of the Venezuelan border state of Amazonas.
“This goes against a treaty on border demarcation and river navigation signed by the two governments, which is in force and mentions free navigation of the rivers that separate the two countries,” Mijares told state television VTV.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Saturday that the men were arrested on Colombian territory in Vichada, a department in eastern Colombia. They were soon returned to Venezuelan officials.
The spat comes as the countries exchange barbs over US plans to use military bases in Colombia and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s alleged support for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels who are fighting the Bogota government.
Chavez has warned his nation to ready itself “for combat” to defend from US attacks coming from Colombia.
For months Chavez has said that a military pact signed in October between Bogota and Washington could set the stage for a US invasion of Venezuela from Colombian territory. The US and Colombia dismiss that accusation, saying that their cooperation is aimed strictly at combating drug traffickers and Marxist insurgents within Colombia.
Colombia brought what it called threats of war from Venezuela to the UN Security Council last Wednesday.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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