*Venezuela’s defence minister, General
Vladimir Padrino López, has announced that naval ships will be deployed in Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Venezuela, the country’s main hubs for the production and export of oil which are connected by a strait. The naval deployment comes after the US
dispatched three warships to international waters off the Venezuelan coastline last week, where they have been tasked with combatting drug trafficking. Venezuela has slammed the US manoeuvres as a dangerous escalation in bilateral tensions and as well as mobilising its own ships Venezuela
has deployed 15,000 troops to the north-western border states of Táchira and Zulia. Padrino López said yesterday that the naval vessels will be involved in
“an important deployment with drones carrying out various missions, checkpoints for citizen outreach, checkpoints for exploration and surveillance, checkpoints or river patrols with naval infantry along all rivers, naval patrols in Lake Maracaibo, naval patrols in the Gulf of Venezuela, and with larger-capacity ships further north in our territorial waters”.End of preview - This article contains approximately 166 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options