Colombia and Venezuela have expressed readiness to strengthen security cooperation against cross-border crime following two high-profile kidnappings along their 2,219-kilometre shared border.
Colombia is seeking Venezuela’s assistance in locating Nancy Gomez, the wife of a Colombian mayor, and an army officer who were abducted in separate incidents.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said it had contacted the Venezuelan government to coordinate efforts to secure Gomez’s release after she was allegedly kidnapped on November 11.
Gomez, the wife of the mayor of Uribia in the northern department of La Guajira, is believed to have been taken across the border into Venezuela to evade Colombian security forces.
Colombian authorities suspect the National Liberation Army (ELN), an armed rebel group, was responsible for her abduction.
President Abelardo De La Espriella has deployed military personnel to the area to support the search operation.
In a separate incident on November 4, an army officer was kidnapped by the ELN in Saravena, in Colombia’s border department of Arauca.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said the country was prepared to work with Colombian authorities on security matters.
It said Caracas was “fully willing to carry out all necessary coordination” with Bogotá to address the situation.
Colombia’s Defence Minister, Jorge Eduardo Mora, said on Wednesday that his government had also asked the United States to engage Venezuela in efforts to locate the missing army officer.
“We are hoping that with this transition happening in Venezuela, there will be cooperation,” Mora said.
Armed groups, including left-wing guerrilla organisations, have operated along the Colombia-Venezuela border for years, with drug trafficking and smuggling among the major security challenges in the region.
Colombia has previously accused Venezuela of providing shelter to members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the ELN, allegations repeatedly denied by Caracas.
The latest security cooperation efforts come amid political changes in Venezuela following a US military operation that captured former President Nicolas Maduro and took him to New York to face trial.
Earlier this year, Delcy Rodriguez assumed office as Venezuela’s interim president and began governing under US oversight.
