REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CARACAS -- Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro late Monday said he had ordered more of his country's vast border with Colombia closed amid a diplomatic crisis over deportations and smuggling.
"I have decided to close the border crossing at Paraguachon, Zulia state," Maduro said in a televised address. He said he would send an additional 3,000
troops in to the area.
The countries have been locked in a row since Maduro on August 19 closed part of the border after unidentified assailants attacked a Venezuelan anti-smuggling patrol, wounding three soldiers and a civilian.
Maduro blamed the attack on right-wing paramilitaries from Colombia.
He has accused the neighboring country of waging an attack on Venezuela's economy -- a reference to the rampant smuggling of heavily subsidized food and other goods out of Venezuela, where more than five million Colombians live.
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