Venezuela asks UN to facilitate communication with Colombia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Venezuela will ask the United Nations to establish communication with Colombia about a conflict on the countries’ southern borders where there have been clashes in recent weeks between the Venezuelan armed forces and armed groups.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government has said it is battling “irregular” Colombian groups in the state of Apure, where eight soldiers have been killed and thousands of civilians displaced.

Colombia has said Maduro’s government is entangled in disputes between different groups of former FARC guerrillas now in Venezuela, attacking some fighters’ groups while collaborating with others to traffic drugs. Maduro denies this.

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the country would submit a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to help broker talks between them.

Read: Colombia says “drug trafficking is taking over” Venezuela with Maduro’s blessing

The letter would ask him “to establish a direct and permanent communication channel between the competent authorities to resolve all issues related to the border and to ensure that both nations coexist in peace as good neighbors,” Arreaza said in a televised broadcast.

The United Nations and Colombia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Monday, Venezuela announced it would deploy a special temporary military unit, called an Integrated Operational Defense Zone, or ZODI, that would operate in Apure state, the clashes center.

According to Colombian officials, at least 5,000 inhabitants of La Victoria have fled over the border to Arauquita in the Colombian department of Arauca. Venezuela says only 3,500 people have been displaced.