The idea that President Gustavo Petro raised on Monday to the Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, during the Council of Ministers, anticipates possible vices and, according to experts, It approaches a provocation to the United Statesin the midst of the recent decision to revoke his visa for having prompted New York to the US army to disobey orders from the White House.
To face the armed groups that commit crimes in the Catatumbo region -the FARC and dissidents, the head of state proposed to advance in a joint work of intelligence between the military forces of Colombia and Venezuela.
“Minister of Defense, without fear, we must articulate intelligence and action of the Venezuelan military forces and ours. Complicated, but it is basic for this to become much better ”the first president insisted.
Beyond throwing an idea in the air, analysts warn the background void of the proposal that, as Walter Arévalo, professor of international law at the University of Rosario, is double -edged.
“Unfortunately, if you want to achieve operational advances, it is necessary to share information with people on the other side of the border, who can observe the movements of illegal groups from another perspective. Only in this way is it possible to build a joint vision on what are the distribution routesin which cities they have greater impact, which smaller organizations support major criminal structures and, in addition, detect which agents or state authorities could be acting in collusion with these illegal groups, ”he said.
Minister Pedro Sánchez has denied in press conferences that there is communication with his Venezuelan counterpart, Vladimir godfather. This was evidenced on August 11, When the attention was put on the FARC dissident indicated as one of the brains of the attack against presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay -who died after staying two months hospitalized.
That day, Sanchez himself confirmed that José Aldinever Sierra Sabogal, aka Zarco Aldinever, leader of the second marquetalia, had been killed by the ELN in a confrontation near the Colombo-Venezuelan border, when endorsing a statement issued by that guerrillas.
Luis Fernando Trejos, professor at the University of the North, warned that – as in previous statements of Petro – essential legal and territorial details are unknown to understand the scope of this measure, which the president himself described as “complicated” and can lead to the stealthy displacement of interests outside the fight against the violent.
“Nor are the threats that are intended to combat, in particular those of a binational nature identified. And it is problematic, considering that there is clear evidence that Venezuelan military sectors maintain coordination with the ELN on the Venezuelan side of the border”He said.
The academic said that one of the moles of the idea is that the Colombian government could share intelligence information with the Venezuelan army without having the certainty that this information does not reach the ELN or, eventually, other Colombian armed structures that commit crimes in Venezuelan territory, such as the second Marquetalia.
“Security Intelligence Agreements would be viciated”
The absence of transparency and democratic support in an eventual agreement generates vices, because it would not have “the same impact or the same legitimacy as if it were carried out with a government committed to the fight against illegal armed groups and criminal gangs”.
“To that extent, intelligence information and military agreements are contaminated by the interests of a regime that, from Chávez, has allowed the presence of armed groups outside the Colombian law that freely travel between the Colombian and Venezuelan border, especially in the northern departments of Santander, Arauca and Meta,” he added.
Professor Socorro Ramírez, political scientist and doctor in political science and international relations, said: “The situation of Colombians arbitrarily detained by the Venezuelan regime has not even been included in the bilateral agenda. That issue has not been put on the table by either of the two governments.”
Laura Bonilla, a researcher at the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, considered: “This seems more like a provocation to the United States than a true strategic directive to the Armed Forces. It does not seem a structured presidential order, with a clear monitoring plan.”
The political scientist and professor of the Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez National University said: “While Colombia should not under any circumstances support Washington’s strength measures in the Caribbean and, much less, a direct military intervention that would create a war zone in the only living terrestrial border of Venezuela -given that the borders with Brazil and Guyana are far from the main urban centers. Amazon-, which could greatly affect the stability of our country, it is not convenient in the current circumstances for national security an exchange of information on sensitive issues between Bogotá and Caracas.
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