VenEconomy: Border Closure Decision by Venezuela's Maduro has Neither Form nor Substance 
 From the Editors of VenEconomy
Latin American Herald Tribune
August 26, 2015

The decision of the government of Nicolás Maduro in having the Colombia-Venezuela border closed last Friday makes no sense at all.

To begin with, the spark that set fire to the measure supposedly owed to a small skirmish.

Rumor has it that on August 19 unidentified people opened fire against an army vehicle circulating near the border with Colombia in Táchira state, an incident that left three soldiers and one civilian wounded. The circumstances that led to the confrontation remain unknown at present, as much as the military component the soldiers belong to, the identities of the civilians, and the health status of those affected.

But, whatever the answer, what nobody seems to understand is why a confrontation that took place within the borders of Venezuela ended up with the closure of the border with Colombia.

Nor is it understandable the disproportionate reaction by Maduro, who aggressively said on Tuesday that "until we restore a minimum of coexistence, respect for legality, life and the economy, the border shall remain closed, ladies and gentlemen. And it shall remain closed, no matter what they say in Bogotá or Cúcuta. I give a damn what they say about me."

It is clear that the error of approach from the Maduro government in attacking a structural and essential problem such as that of the border areas, with both Colombia and Brazil, in no-man's lands, where illicit activities of all kinds take place under the protection of corrupt military and civilian officials of the countries involved. A problem whose solution lies in bilateral agreements, strong and transparent decisions of the governments, the establishment of clear rules of the game to the economic actors, and economic and social balances in the population living there. It takes diplomatic solutions without hiding anything.

Even less understandable is a decree of an indefinite state of emergency published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette of Friday August 21, subsequently endorsed in extraordinary session of the Parliament held in Táchira state on Tuesday. A state of emergency that curtails six constitutional political, economic and social rights of citizens that live in the area, and that is taking a dangerous turn to promote human rights violations of both Venezuelan nationals and Colombians.

The media in Colombia (where there is freedom of reporting) and social networks have documented the allegations of serious violations of universal human rights against the population affected by the state of emergency, especially Colombians in legal or illegal state.

This new outrage of the Bolivarian government has reached such a level that Alejandro Ordóñez, the Attorney General of Colombia, told the press on Tuesday that "the actions of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro against Colombian citizens are considered a systematic attack on civilians."

Ordóñez said that the complaints received "have the characteristics described in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as they represent a persecution of a group or community with own identity, in this case, the Colombian nationality, since it includes acts of deportation or forcible transfer of population, incarceration or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, sexual abuse, forced disappearance of persons and inhuman acts that intentionally cause suffering and undermine the integrity of the people."

And should these actions continue "they could be treated as crimes against humanity and within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court."

But, it seems that the Venezuelan "revolutionaries" are turning a deaf ear to these alerts, since they are now opening the doors for new state of emergency measures and close other border crossing points in Zulia and Apure states.

The ambition to cling to power blinds and makes it impossible to observe the norms of coexistence of form and substance.

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CDV.org note: For some video reports in Spanish about the deportations go here and here and for some reactions go here

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