“At this time, when I’m talking to you, more than a thousand militants are training in Colombia, they are being trained by the army and intelligence service of Colombia with the support of the President of Colombia ... They intend to infiltrate Venezuela in order to sabotage the political and electoral climate that should lead us elections to the National Assembly, "RIA Novosti quotes Maduro as saying.

The President added that Venezuela must activate "all mechanisms of intelligence, protection from society, politics, police," because the country is under constant threat.

In June, Maduro claimed that Colombian leader Ivan Duque allegedly controls mercenaries who are preparing a new invasion of the Bolivarian Republic.

On May 3, the Venezuelan Defense Ministry reported that a "group of terrorist mercenaries organized and trained in Colombia" tried to get into the country on boats.

Colombia later denied any involvement in the incident.