Spring Break
Documents show Chavez gave guerrillas $300 million, Colombia claims
Mar. 4, 2008
Pablo Bachelet - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
WASHINGTON _ The Organization of American States scheduled an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss rising military tensions in South America as a Colombian official charged that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave Colombian rebels $300 million dollars.
The newspaper El Tiempo quoted Colombia's police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, as saying that the money transfer from Chavez to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was detailed in documents on a computer that belonged to a rebel leader killed Saturday in a Colombian raid on a FARC encampment in Ecuador.
The newspaper said the documents also said that the group had given Chavez $50,000 when he was jailed in 1992 after a failed coup attempt.
Chavez ordered troops and tanks to the border with Colombia on Sunday and warned Colombia not to try to strike rebel encampments inside Venezuela, while Ecuador charged that the Colombia raid was illegal.
Colombia fired back on Monday, accusing Venezuela and Ecuador of violating international agreements by harboring the rebels, known as the FARC.
Colombian officials said the laptop, which belonged to rebel commander Luis Edgar Devia, also known as Raul Reyes, also contained communications with Ecuador's security minister, Gustavo Larrea.
The communications suggested that Ecuador had agreed to replace its military commanders on its border with Colombia with officers who would be friendlier to the FARC.
The Colombian statement said it was "concerned over the agreements that may exist between the FARC terrorist group and the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela, which violate international agreements that forbid countries to harbor terrorists."
The information will be made available to the OAS and the United Nations, the statement added.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa called the Colombian raid illegal, and diplomats said that Ecuador will present a resolution condemning the action at an OAS meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The newspaper El Tiempo quoted Colombia's police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, as saying that the money transfer from Chavez to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was detailed in documents on a computer that belonged to a rebel leader killed Saturday in a Colombian raid on a FARC encampment in Ecuador.
The newspaper said the documents also said that the group had given Chavez $50,000 when he was jailed in 1992 after a failed coup attempt.
Chavez ordered troops and tanks to the border with Colombia on Sunday and warned Colombia not to try to strike rebel encampments inside Venezuela, while Ecuador charged that the Colombia raid was illegal.
Colombia fired back on Monday, accusing Venezuela and Ecuador of violating international agreements by harboring the rebels, known as the FARC.
Colombian officials said the laptop, which belonged to rebel commander Luis Edgar Devia, also known as Raul Reyes, also contained communications with Ecuador's security minister, Gustavo Larrea.
The communications suggested that Ecuador had agreed to replace its military commanders on its border with Colombia with officers who would be friendlier to the FARC.
The Colombian statement said it was "concerned over the agreements that may exist between the FARC terrorist group and the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela, which violate international agreements that forbid countries to harbor terrorists."
The information will be made available to the OAS and the United Nations, the statement added.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa called the Colombian raid illegal, and diplomats said that Ecuador will present a resolution condemning the action at an OAS meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Be the first to comment on this story