Venezuela rejects US interference in border issue

Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Delcy Rodriguez on Monday urged the US to stop interfering in Venezuela's temporary closure of its border with Colombia.

Rodrigueze made the appeal known via her Twitter account and accused John Kirby, the spokesperson for the US State Department, of "meddling" in the issue on the current situation of Venezuela-Colombia border, Xinhua reported.

"We demand that the United States government not meddle in issues of a strictly bilateral nature between Venezuela and Colombia," said Rodriguez.

On Saturday, Kirby voiced his "concern" through a press release about the situation concerning Venezuela-Colombia border, wherein Venezuelan authorities are deporting illegal Colombians or those linked to alleged criminal actions, saying that his country will work to help "guarantee" the human rights of the repatriated Colombians.

The Venezuelan minister refuted the US State Department spokesman's remarks about abuses of human rights concerning the Colombian people being repatriated.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro announced on August 21 a state of emergency in 10 municipalities in the western state of Tachira which shares border with San Jose de Cucuta in the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, after paramilitaries of Colombia allegedly carried out an attack and injured three Venezuelan soldiers.

The measure includes suspension of the border crossing around the region and deployment of more than 7,000 troops from the National Armed Forces of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (FANB), whose mission is to re-establish peace and tranquility in the area.