To Resolve Border Dispute, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Requests

President Maduro also announced that the Simon Bolivar global bridge between the two countries would remain closed until the suspects were apprehended.

On Friday night, Maduro declared a state of exception in Tachira for 60 days, with the proviso that it may be extended for another 60 days, and closed “until further notice” all border crossings to and from the neighboring country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaking during a meeting with members of his cabinet in Caracas.

The two Latin American nations share a 2,219 km border, where smuggling, mainly from Venezuela to Colombia is rife, due to high profits to be gained. Last year, official data showed that over 40 percent of food items subsidized through government services were caught in the bootlegging cycle, though the number decreased slightly as border security was expanded.

The government said all three soldiers had survived the attack.

The Colombian chief additionally referred to as on his Venezuelan counterpart to satisfy Wednesday in an try and discover a diplomatic answer to the escalating drawback.

“This decree provides ample power to civil and military authorities to restore peace”, he said in a broadcast on state television.

The search, it said, is being carried out in an area of Tachira state “invaded” illegally by around 1,900 families, 90 percent of whose members are “of Colombian origin”.

Maduro’s action late Friday followed his earlier decision to enforce a 72-hour closure of the normally busy crossing in Tachira state and deploy hundreds of additional troops in response to the shooting that wounded two lieutenants and a captain who were patrolling for smugglers.

Without making direct reference to Mr. Maduro’s recent statement, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Venezuelan citizens were “always welcome”. It also has rolled a fingerprint-scanning system to restrict the amount of any single product shoppers can buy.

In total, the government says more than 6,000 people have been arrested for smuggling in the past year and it that more than 28,000 tons of food were seized in anti-smuggling operations.