Politics
The Venezuelan government submitted on Monday a Notice of Protest to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the repeated presence in Venezuelan territory of officials from the Administrative Security Department (DAS), "found spying and trying to bribe, activities which are apparently unfriendly and defined as crimes in the Venezuelan Criminal Code."

There were also claims of "a big conspiracy and destabilization plot against Venezuela" with a potential impact on the region and a request to put an end to such actions which endanger Venezuela's sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic stability, according to a press release quoted by state-run news agency ABN.

The notice was delivered to Colombian Ambassador to Venezuela María Luisa Chappe. Concomitantly, the Venezuelan government promised to repatriate eight Colombian men killed at the Venezuela-Colombia border, as the Colombian Consul in Andean Táchira state Carlos Alberto Barrios said that his government lacked the means to take the bodies to Colombia.

The bodies were taken on Monday to the morgue of Cúcuta, Colombia, where they will be delivered to relatives.