Colombia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Venezuelan helicopters and soldiers illegally crossed the two countries’ border amid ongoing tensions.

In a press release, the Colombian foreign ministry said that two military police helicopters on Sunday dropped some 30 armed soldiers in Tibu, a municipality on the northern half of the country’s 1,300-mile border.

The unannounced cross-border operation was a “violation of the sovereignty of Colombia,” the foreign ministry said.

The alleged incursion in the virtually lawless border region between the two countries is the first since President Ivan Duque took office earlier this month.

At the instruction of the president, the foreign ministry, a letter expressing “the most energetic protest” was sent to Venezuela’s embassy in Bogota.

While this would be the first illegal cross-border operation for Duque, it is by far not the first in recent history.

Former President Juan Manuel Santos on multiple occasions claimed that Venezuelan armed forces entered Colombian territory without permission, often in areas where the countries are separated by shifting rivers.

Alleged incursions like the one on Sunday are particularly sensitive now that tensions between the two countries is high.

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has converted the country into a virtual one-party state and has claimed the Colombian government has been involved in plots to either topple or assassinate him.

At the same time, food and medicine shortages in Colombia’s socialist-run neighbor has spurred a mass exodus of Venezuelans to neighboring countries.

Like Venezuela, Colombia has also not taken the exact location of their neighbors’ borders too seriously.

Ecuadorean courts are currently investigating top former military officials from Colombia for a 2008 cross-border bombing raid that killed a prominent Colombian guerrilla leader who was hiding in the jungle on the Ecuadorean side of the border.

was last modified: by</s>Nuestra cadena aliada en Colombia, Noticias RCN, reveló un video del momento exacto en el que dos helicópteros militares venezolanos entran en territorio colombiano. Las imágenes hacen parte de las pruebas del Gobierno colombiano, que envió una nota formal de protesta a Venezuela por la violación a la soberanía.

La grabación registra el momento en el que un helicóptero Bell 412 sobrevuela la vereda Vetas de Oriente en zona rural de Tibú, en Norte de Santander, noreste de Colombia.

En el video se aprecia a la aeronave realizar un sobrepaso sobre el lugar. Al fondo se visualiza un segundo helicóptero volando en círculos sobre la zona. Ambos estaban identificados con las siglas de la Guardia Nacional Bolivariana.

Por su parte, en un comunicado el Gobierno venezolano calificó de “falso positivo” la incursión aérea.

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¡Suscríbete a nuestro canal en YouTube aquí: https://www.youtube.com/ntn24!</s>Colombia issued a strong protest Tuesday over what it said was a border incursion by Venezuelan helicopters and troops over the weekend.

The government of President Ivan Duque said it sent a strongly-worded protest to the Venezuelan ambassador over what it claimed was a “violation of Colombia’s sovereignty” in Norte Santander department on Sunday.

“Two helicopters, identified with the initials of the Bolivarian National Guard and about 30 armed personnel belonging to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela” landed in the border region of Tibu, the foreign ministry said.

The ministry said it sent a note “expressing the strongest protest” to the Venezuelan ambassador in Bogota.

The South American neighbors have locked horns in recent years over similar incidents along their 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border crisscrossed by guerrillas and drug traffickers.

The most recent incident was in November last year and also involved the Tibu region.

Like his predecessor Juan Manuel Santos, Duque has branded Venezuela a “dictatorship” under President Nicolas Maduro.

Earlier this month, Maduro accused Santos of being behind an alleged attempt to assassinate him during a military parade in Caracas.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the economic crisis in their home country have taken refuge in Colombia, which Maduro has also accused of sheltering his opponents.

Colombia urged Peru and Ecuador to coordinate their immigration policies to deal with an influx of Venezuelan migrants.</s>Venezuela hit back at Colombia on Wednesday branding as fake news claims from its neighbor that helicopters and troops had violated its sovereignty in an illegal incursion.

Venezuela has "no doubts in qualifying" the news as "another false positive," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"There was no incursion of any sort either by air or land," it added.

Colombia had sent a strongly-worded protest to the Venezuelan ambassador on Tuesday over what it claimed was an incursion into its Norte Santander department on Sunday.

"Two helicopters, identified with the initials of the Bolivarian National Guard and about 30 armed personnel belonging to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela" landed in the border region of Tibu, Colombia's foreign ministry said.

The South American neighbors have locked horns in recent years over similar incidents along their 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border, which is crisscrossed by guerrillas and drug traffickers.

The most recent incident was in November last year and also involved the Tibu region.

Colombia's right-wing President Ivan Duque is a vocal critic of far-left Venezuela counterpart Nicolas Maduro and has denounced his "dictatorship."

Earlier this month, Maduro accused Duque's predecessor Juan Manuel Santos of being behind an alleged attempt to assassinate him during a military parade in Caracas.

Colombia has been swamped by a flood of migrants streaming over the border to flee an economic crisis that has left food and medicine shortages following four years of recession.

More than a million Venezuelans have entered Colombia in just the last 16 months.

Maduro, though, accuses his neighbor of sheltering his political opponents.

Following the statement, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Twitter that his country "won't stop its efforts to protect its population and expel from its territory the plague of Colombian violence and drug-trafficking."
In response to the Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guard's armed infiltration of Norte de Santander, Colombia four days ago, Venezuela releases a statement calling it "supposed" and "fake news", despite clear video of Venezuelan helicopters in Colombian territory.