Minister of Interior and Justice Tarek El Aissami of Venezuela
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami says Venezuela will send a group of rescue workers with 74 tons of humanitarian aid Friday night.
Tarek El Aissami was previously Vice Minister for Public Security in the MIJ.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said the suspects were apprehended Tuesday during a raid on a house in western Zulia state, where authorities found a recoilless anti-tank weapon and four grenades.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said the bases will help President Hugo Chvez's government fight drug smuggling, extortion and kidnapping.
El Aissami said that about 70 families would be evacuated from El Valle, after the same number of homes totally or partially collapsed.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said the suspects were apprehended Tuesday during a raid on a house in western Zulia state, where authorities found a cannon and four grenades.
El Aissami said the suspects caught in Zulia could have been planning to kill the president by shooting down the presidential jet a possibility that Chavez raised when the purported plot was first discovered.
At first, El-Aissami said the government will build five military bases to help control drug trafficking, kidnappings, guerrilla and paramilitary activity along the sparsely inhabited border.
El-Aissami said the new bases would be part of the National Plan for the Defense and Sovereignty of the National Government, and will include all four components of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard.
Then, in a later press conference, El-Aissami said that five citizen security zones, not military bases, will be set up to help the government protect and bring medical care and food assistance to the Yukpa people, a local indigenous population.
While making the announcement about the increased military presence Sunday, El-Aissami said that Venezuela has interdicted 45 tons of drugs and arrested 14 drug traffickers so far in 2008.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami says Venezuela will send rescue workers with 74 tons of humanitarian aid.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said Thursday the deportation of Marcos Orozco Wilches and Aldo Alvarez Duran demonstrates that Venezuela is serious about fighting trafficking.
Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said on Wednesday that Venezuela hopes the Holy See turns over 34-year-old Nixon Moreno to be tried.