(MENAFN) Venezuela is deploying 15,000 security forces to its western border regions amid escalating international tensions and rising criminal activity, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced Monday. The large-scale operation will focus on the troubled states of Zulia and Tachira, both adjacent to Colombia.

Cabello stated the mission aims to “ensure peace” and suppress organized criminal networks along the frontier. The initiative will incorporate air surveillance, drone operations, and specialized river patrols to secure the border.

The troop surge follows a sharp spike in geopolitical friction, most notably the United States doubling its bounty for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million, and deploying additional forces to the Caribbean.

Cabello criticized Colombian authorities, urging them to act decisively against crime in the border area. “Anyone who has relations with criminals, with criminal gangs, should assume their responsibility, and we will assume ours,” he warned.

He emphasized Venezuela’s commitment to the crackdown. “If our people can be sure of anything, it's that we will make every effort in that area, and the 15,000 men will have the full support of the police forces. This is a joint effort, a team effort. I assure you that right now, there are operations, and we are destroying some (criminal) camps.”

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez dismissed allegations from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accusing Venezuelan forces of collaborating with Colombian insurgents to traffic narcotics.

Padrino’s remarks were in direct response to DEA Administrator Terry Cole, who claimed that Venezuela was assisting Colombian guerrillas in supplying Mexican drug cartels with unprecedented quantities of cocaine headed for the U.S.

The Venezuelan government’s latest moves come as tensions with Washington mount over American military exercises in the Caribbean, officially framed as anti-drug operations. The U.S. alleges Maduro is the head of the so-called “Cartel of the Suns,” an accusation both Maduro and Cabello deny.

In solidarity with U.S. efforts, France has also bolstered its naval presence in the Caribbean, dispatching additional vessels to its overseas territory of Guadeloupe to strengthen regional monitoring.

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