Venezuelan Troops Trained Rebels to Fire Rockets, Colombia Says
- Embattled Maduro enlists the ELN as he rallies all forces
- The Marxist guerillas could be able to bring down aircraft
Vladimir Padrino Lopez holds an IGLA surface-to-air missile system in Caracas.
Photographer: Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images
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Venezuelan soldiers loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro have trained members of South America’s most dangerous guerrilla force to use heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles, according to Colombian authorities.
National Liberation Army fighters were instructed in how to use the Russian-manufactured IGLA surface-to-air missile system, according to General Luis Navarro, Colombia’s top-ranking soldier. The Marxist force known as the ELN has long used Venezuelan territory as a refuge and has a close ideological affinity with Maduro’s socialist government, which the U.S. is trying to topple.