Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Venezuela rejects ETA, FARC accusations

The Venezuelan government strongly rejected allegations of ties between officials with Colombian guerillas and Spanish separatists.
On Monday Spanish High Court Judge Eloy Velasco ruled that members of the Venezuelan government acted as intermediaries between the FARC and ETA. Velasco claimed that ETA allegedly received “a Venezuelan military escort” to a jungle site where they supposedly gave explosive courses to the FARC. Velasco added that ETA members traveled to Colombia via Venezuela and said that ETA helped the FARC plan assassination attempts against high-profile Colombian politicos.

A statement issued by the Venezuelan government disputed Velasco’s claims:
The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was informed through the media about the indictment issued by a Spanish judge containing unacceptable and politically-motivated accusations against the Venezuelan government…

All the accusations issued by this judge come from the files of the allegedly laptop seized from Raúl Reyes during a military operation where Ecuadorian territory was illegally bombed and hundreds of people were massacred. Furthermore, it is surprising that the judge revives the eroded farce of the laptop, which has become part of Colombian political folklore.
Velasco’s ruling comes as the U.S. State Department accused the Venezuelan government of helping the FARC and other Colombian guerillas with drug trafficking. Venezuela's Ambassador to the U.S. Bernardo Alvarez replied by calling the report “purely political.”

Image- Guardian UK (“2004: A man walks past graffiti that reads "Join and fight, freedom for the Basque Country" in San Sebastian.”)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, AFP, Reuters, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry

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