Washington and the National Liberation Army

The Shield of the Americas, which includes 19 Latin American countries, is a brand-new initiative spearheaded by President Donald Trump. It has approved a joint declaration of war on the National Liberation Army and 23 other armed organizations — including dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, as well as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (the Gulf Clan). The signatories say they will intensify crackdowns and take judicial and financial measures to put an end to these groups’ criminal activities.

Another action under this agreement will be to secure the support of the Organization of American States to facilitate joint military security operations within the territory covered by OAS member countries.

It is common knowledge that Venezuela is not part of the Shield of the Americas. It is also recognized that Venezuela has served as a safe haven for Colombian narco-terrorists who have found refuge within its territory — a situation facilitated, or at least encouraged, by the acquiescence of the Maduro-Cabello-Rodríguez regime, with the collaboration of the military leadership and the armed forces.

Plan Patriota 2, part of the new Abelardo de la Espriella administration’s 2026-2030 Defense, Security and Civic Coexistence Policy, has made the border one of its strategic focal points. In fact, recent military operations along the border have neutralized narco-guerrilla units and eliminated insurgent leaders. This is evidence of the new administration’s determination to use its resources, in conjunction with those of the United States, to impose order and restore the state’s effective control over territories occupied by criminal organizations. In Colombia, Plan Patriota 2 is also responsible for systematically targeting the illicit economies that finance them.

As early as mid-2025, some Colombian media outlets were warning that the National Liberation Army’s alliance with Venezuelan forces “has allowed them to establish drug trafficking corridors, safe zones, illicit military operations and extractive activities along the Colombian-Venezuelan border, particularly in the departments of Arauca and Norte de Santander, specifically in the Catatumbo region.”

But it is now well known — and the facts supporting this are documented in various Colombian intelligence reports and backed by Middle Eastern intelligence agencies — that the National Liberation Army’s armed alliance with authorities on Venezuelan soil is not limited to the border and drug trafficking. Instead, it extends deep into the interior, having established a significant foothold in the illegal exploitation of the country’s mining heartland. It is no secret that the National Liberation Army is currently one of the main actors in extractive activities in the Orinoco Mining Arc.

A vast region with gold and diamond deposits is just a few kilometers from Ciudad Bolívar, and it is currently infested by the activities of this violent Colombian insurgent group, which operates with impunity — thanks to official support.

According to reports from organizations such as InSight Crime and the United Nations, a significant portion of the National Liberation Army’s illegal revenue comes from this extractive activity, which is carried out with official complicity. Those same officials authorize the transportation of weapons and explosives for the National Liberation Army and facilitate the movement of the proceeds of its illegal activities to export destinations. Additionally, Venezuela has become a center for guerrilla training — both military and doctrinal — for young Colombians recruited across the border. Our Venezuelan military personnel look the other way.

It is impossible to conclude this article without noting that several of the intelligence reports available in Colombia link the National Liberation Army to Hezbollah’s activities in the binational corridor, where technology, foreign funding and military logistics converge.

One must, therefore, ask how the situation described above fits with the U.S. presence on Venezuelan soil through the co-governance arrangement between Washington and Caracas that has been in place since Jan. 3. And where do all these absurdities stand in light of the crackdown on regional organized crime promised by the Shield of the Americas?

To date, not one statement by government officials in Washington has referred to this network, in which the current Venezuelan administration continues to play an active role in maintaining a criminal alliance with non-state armed groups in Colombia — and in particular with the National Liberation Army.