Venezuelan offensive sends thousands of civilians into Colombia

The military now faces serious human rights abuse accusations which include extrajudicial killings as well as beatings and arbitrary detentions.

ARAUQUITA, Colombia — When the Venezuelan military helicopters started firing shots and the bombing began, Yanet Garcia fled her home. With her family in tow, she made it safely across the border to Colombia in just a few hours. Garcia, 40, from the outskirts of a small Venezuelan border town called La Victoria, had to force her 82-year-old father off their small farm to come with them. “Let them kill me,” he shouted at her, but eventually relented. “I was a nervous wreck. We left because we were scared of being killed. I had no idea what was happening, we just left and walked for an hour,” Garcia said, from a makeshift shelter where she is taking refuge in the Colombian town of Arauquita, separated from Venezuela by a 100-yard (91-metre) stretch of water.