Escalating tensions with neighboring Colombia, Venezuela has extended their partial border shutdown and sent in another 3,000 troops to the border area.

On Aug. 22 the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency in a border region near Colombia following an attack by smugglers that resulted in three soldiers and a civilian being injured. Since then, Maduro has closed several other border crossings and deported more than 1,000 Colombians. His latest closure is at a crossing in the state of Zulia.

The Venezuelan leader insists that the border area has been infiltrated by Colombian paramilitaries and criminal gangs.

Last month, as reported by the BBC, Maduro shut down main frontier points in Tachira state. On Monday he ordered the closing of the Paraguachon crossing in Zulia state .

The Venezuelan opposition party claims Maduro’s border closures are an attempt to stir up fears of a foreign enemy as a way of increasing his popularity.

Historically the 1,400-mile-long border between the two Latin American countries has seen a steady flow of people coming in and out.

Following last month’s border closures, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos criticized Maduro’s martial law move, saying ordinary people on both sides of the border would suffer. As reported in the BBC, Santos said, "If we cooperate, the only ones to lose are the criminals, but if the border is closed, there is no coordination and the only ones to gain are the criminals."

On Tuesday Rafael Ramírez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, defended his country’s border closings due to that illicit trafficking of domestic fuel and food by Colombian smugglers. As reported in The New York Times, Ramírez called the smugglers were “worse than the Mafia,” and saidm “They smuggle 35 percent of our national production, which has taken a tremendous toll on our economy.”