Venezuela strengthens security on Colombia border

Venezuela has arrested a group of Colombians they say are linked to a leftist guerrilla border attack that killed 12 Colombian soldiers, Defense Minister Henry Rangel said Thursday. The Colombian military said it was "very likely" that rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) crossed from north-western Venezuela to stage the attack in a remote area on the Guajira Peninsula, then fled back across the border. "We are looking into their relationship (with the FARC) in order to act in accordance with the law," Rangel told state-run AVN news. The 10 suspects will be handed over to Colombian officials, Rangel told AVN. Two brigades from Venezuela's National Armed Forces and troops from the regional Air Force Command, some 3,000 in all, have been dispatched to the border area since Monday, boosting a permanent army presence there, Rangel said earlier. Venezuela also deployed four low-flying reconnaissance planes and three Russian-built MI-17 helicopters, government media said. "We are conducting very specific tasks to search for and find possible elements of the armed groups that have penetrated the Venezuelan territory," Rangel told Telesur television. Bogota had called on Caracas to take "effective" action against the rebels. Rangel spoke ahead of a meeting of Venezuelan and Colombian foreign ministers to discuss border security cooperation. Any rebels found will face the "iron hand" of Venezuelan security forces, he said. Acknowledging that the long border of over 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) has historically been "very permeable," Rangel said that security "has improved," with the army consolidating its presence. Bogota in the past has accused the leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of providing refuge to Colombian guerrillas, but tensions between the two governments have eased under Santos, who has cultivated better relations with Caracas than his hard-line predecessor Alvaro Uribe. The FARC have stepped up attacks on Colombian security forces over the past year in remote parts of the country. In April, 15 soldiers were killed in fighting in the southern department of Caqueta, while on March 11 other soldiers were ambushed and killed in the eastern department of Arauca, which also borders Venezuela. The FARC is the country's oldest and largest insurgent group with about 9,200 men under arms, according to Colombian defense ministry estimates.