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