Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—On Monday, Venezuelan Interior Minister and Secretary General of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Diosdado Cabello said that the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), police forces, and border governors were taking precautions amid the escalation of violence in Colombia.At the PSUV’s weekly press conference, Cabello said Venezuela regretted that conflicts occurred in other countries and maintained its policy of non-interference in their internal affairs. He said Venezuela expected other countries to respect the same principle and that the government of Colombia should take precautions to protect people in Venezuela from the effects of the conflict across the border.Border deployment and Guasdualito investigationCabello said the armed forces and police were deployed and that governors in border states were carrying out their responsibilities. He gave no troop numbers or specific locations. He described Colombia’s conflict as long-running and said Venezuela did not want to be involved in internal conflicts or conflicts that were not its own. Mazo 4F’s report on the remarks also records Cabello’s account of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s instruction to avoid conflicts outside Venezuela.Cabello also referred to the killing of a person in Guasdualito, Apure state, Venezuela, two days earlier. He said the governor had traveled there with his team and authorities to investigate and that Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Corps (CICPC) personnel had been sent from Caracas to determine what happened.Unconfirmed bombing allegation in ApureOn Saturday, October 31, Fundaredes, a far-right-aligned NGO, and opposition figure Rocío San Miguel reported an alleged military bombing in Apure.They claimed the target was a camp belonging to the National Liberation Army (ELN), a major leftist Colombian guerrilla organization whose peace talks with former President Gustavo Petro’s government ended without an agreement. The alleged target was reported to be in Buena Vista del Meta, on Venezuelan territory.Fundaredes and San Miguel said the alleged bombing killed ELN members. However, the identities of the dead and the camp’s affiliation have not been independently established, and Venezuelan authorities had not publicly confirmed the operation or its authorship.The available reporting does not establish whether the alleged target was an ELN camp or a position held by another armed group in the border region.Cabello did not mention the alleged bombing in his remarks. He referred instead to the separate homicide in Guasdualito and the ongoing investigation.Colombia’s return to “strong hand” policiesColombia’s new president Abelardo de la Espriela has announced a return to bombings against armed groups and moved to restart aerial spraying of illicit crops. The measures recall the “strong hand” security policies associated with the far-right governments of Iván Duque and Álvaro Uribe.De la Espriella’s has repealed a restriction on aerial spraying, while his administration has also announced a return to bombings and fumigation.Experts have claimed that this approach has failed to resolve Colombia’s armed conflict. In its assessment of the Duque government, researchers at the Fundación Ideas para la Paz argued that security policy prioritized territorial control and military blows against armed groups over protecting civilians and communities and that rising violence showed that the policy was not succeeding.US military presence and Plan ColombiaUS imperialist military expansion in Latin America is also visible in Colombia. More than 300 US troops arrived for the Vanguardia del Sur 2026 exercise at Tolemaida, scheduled from October 27 to November 11. Colombian human-rights organizations and opposition politicians criticized the deployment and raised questions about sovereignty and legislative oversight.New details were revealed in a Monday Semana’s report: an “anonymous” military source told AFP that US intelligence personnel, including the CIA and FBI, supported the unconfirmed Apure operation and that it was carried out on US orders. If confirmed, it would add to a series of US military atrocities carried out in recent months over the region.Colombia’s De la Espriella Orders More Bombings & Resumes Aerial SprayingThe US military presence and the unverified claim of US intelligence involvement raise concern about a possible expansion of Plan Colombia’s failed militarized model under Donald Trump’s so-called “Donroe Doctrine,” a revival of the Monroe Doctrine. Special for Orinoco Tribune by staffOT/JRE/SL