Colombia Police Say Rebel Files Show Chavez Aids FARC

DuH2 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia's police chief alleged Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez helped fund Latin America's biggest guerrilla group and has ties to the rebels going back more than 15 years.

Documents on a computer belonging to the second in command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia show Venezuela provided the guerrillas with at least $300 million, police Chief Oscar Naranjo said. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez denied the allegations.

``These documents not only imply a closeness, but an armed alliance between the FARC and the government of Venezuela,'' Naranjo said in a televised press briefing in Bogota.

Colombia's Security Council found documents on three laptops belonging to Raul Reyes, who was killed by Colombian forces in an attack inside Ecuador this weekend. The air strike prompted Chavez and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa to order troops to their respective borders with Colombia.

An expanded military presence along the Colombia-Venezuela border -- a cauldron of paramilitary, drug trafficking and guerrilla activity where Colombian troops operate regularly -- raises tensions between the countries to a level that a miscalculation could trigger a military clash. Both countries also recalled their ambassadors from Bogota.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...=latin_america

justabubba · #2 (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 05:35 PM

how convenient
a connection between chavez and FARC just happens to be all laid out in his computer files for them to observe
recall those stainless tubes Colins Powell referred to in his speech to the UN. it was proof - PROOF, that saddam was engaged in WMDs
this regime has lost all credibility ... i'll pass on the offer of kool aid

like the shrub said

Quote:

"There's an old...saying in Tennessee...I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says Fool me once...(3 second pause)... Shame on...(4 second pause)...Shame on you....(6 second pause)...Fool me...Can't get fooled again."

yea, whatever

sunnyside · #3 (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 05:49 PM

Plus if FARC is a terrorist organization it's like terrorist light. The diet coke of terror. I think they get the label for financing themselves through kidnapping and because their crappy mortars do more collateral damage than anything else.
Really more of a scuzzy revolution/profiteer bunch.

Still that's the games of international politics. Hopefully the US hasn't forgotten how to play.

DuH2 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 07:15 PM

FARC is the most well funded Communist guerilla group in South America.

Quote:

FARC is Colombia’s largest and best-equipped rebel group, with around 12,000-18,000 members—it is also one of the world’s richest and most powerful guerrilla armies. It operates in almost half the country, mostly in the jungles of the southeast and the plains at the base of the Andes mountains. In 1999, during peace negotiations between the Colombian government and FARC, then President Andres Pastrana ceded control of an area twice the size of New Jerseyto FARC. After three years of fruitless negotiations and a series of high-profile terrorist acts, Pastrana ended the peace talks in February 2002 and ordered Colombian forces to start retaking the FARC-controlled zone.

The smaller ELN, which operates mainly in northeastern Colombia, has about 4,000 members, although advances by AUC paramilitaries have damaged ELN’s strength, size and support base. The Pastrana administration negotiated with the ELN but denied ELN requests for the sort of zone of control the government granted FARC.

What sorts of terrorist attacks have FARC and ELN committed?
FARC is responsible for most of the ransom kidnappings in Colombia; the group targets wealthy landowners, foreign tourists, and prominent international and domestic officials. FARC stepped up terrorist activities against infrastructure in cities before Colombia’s May 2002 presidential election. Recent FARC operations include:

the November 2005 kidnapping of sixty people, who are currently being held hostage by FARC, until the government decided to release hundreds of their comrades serving prison sentences. Former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt—who was kidnapped in 2002—is among the hostages;
the February 2002 hijacking of a domestic commercial flight and kidnapping of a Colombian senator on board;
the February 2002 kidnapping of a presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, who was traveling in guerrilla territory;
the October 2001 kidnapping and assassination of a former Colombian minister of culture; and
the March 1999 murder of three American missionaries working in Colombia, which resulted in a U.S. indictment of FARC and six of its members in April 2002.
ELN, which is also known for kidnapping wealthy Colombians for ransom, uses bombing campaigns and extortion against multinational and domestic oil companies. ELN attacks on oil pipelines have killed civilians and drawn the attention of the Bush administration, which has suggested training the Colombian armed forces to protect oil facilities.

How are FARC and ELN funded?
Experts estimate that FARC takes in $200 million to $400 million annually—at least half of its income—from the illegal drug trade. FARC also profits from kidnappings, extortion schemes and an unofficial “tax” it levies in the countryside for “protection” and social services. Ransom or “protection” payments account for most of ELN’s income, but it has also recently entered the drug trade.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9272/#6

sunnyside · #5 (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 07:37 PM

Well. Exactly. Though as I understand it they consider killing the Americans a mistake.

Anyway my point wasn't that they're happy friendly people. They're just the sort of warband of dirty bastards that foreign powers have been using as pawns for ages. If they were on our side the US probably wouldn't have a problem backing them subtly.

I guess it's that I feel the "terrorist oraganization" label is getting overused. When you slap it on everybody who kidnaps someone for ransom or deals some drugs or diamonds to fund themselves it diminishes what it means compared to the real terrorists out there who are looking to commit mass murder of civilians.

Rebellion · #6 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justabubba

how convenient
a connection between chavez and FARC just happens to be all laid out in his computer files for them to observe
recall those stainless tubes Colins Powell referred to in his speech to the UN. it was proof - PROOF, that saddam was engaged in WMDs
this regime has lost all credibility ... i'll pass on the offer of kool aid

like the shrub said

yea, whatever

Right, but we should believe what the little dictator has to say. Funny, I didn't see him deny it. This certainly explains why he stuck his nose in Ecuador's business. He's providing financial backing to the other team. The extreme left's hero is crumbling before our eyes.

DuH2 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 01:52 PM

Accepting reality has never been an acceptable proposition to the Far Left.

Quote:

Venezuela troops head to Colombia border
By FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press Writer

Chavez: 'South America on Brink of War'

Latest News
Venezuela troops head to Colombia border
Colombia: Rebels considering dirty bombs

A look at militaries in 3 Andean nations

Colombia: Chavez funding FARC rebels

Ecuador, Venezuela cutting Colombia ties

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Hundreds of Venezuelan troops moved Tuesday toward the border with Colombia, where trade was slowing amid heightening tension over Colombia's cross-border strike on a rebel base in Ecuador.

The Organization of American States scheduled an emergency afternoon meeting in Washington to try to calm one of the region's worst political showdowns in years, pitting U.S.-backed Colombia against Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez and his allies. Colombian and Ecuadorean officials, meanwhile, traded accusations in the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

The escalation of tensions was triggered over the weekend when Colombia troops crossed the border with Ecuador and killed Raul Reyes, a top commander of the Colombian FARC rebels who had set up a camp there.

Chavez, who sympathizes with the leftist rebels, condemned the killing and angrily ordered about 9,000 soldiers - 10 battalions - to Venezuela's border with Colombia. He warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that any strike on Venezuelan soil could provoke a South American war.

Uribe said he has provided Chavez with precise information on the location of rebel camps in Venezuela. He said one was home to Ivan Marquez, another top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But Uribe said he would not allow his nation to be drawn into a conflict with its neighbors.

"Colombia has never been a country to go to war with its neighbors," Uribe said. "We are not mobilizing troops, nor advancing toward war with neighbors."

President Bush said the United States will stand by Colombia and criticized Venezuela's government for making "provocative maneuvers." Colombia has received some $5 billion in U.S. aid to fight drugs and leftist rebels since 2000.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

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