Venezuela plotted to kill Colombia president, Spain judge says

[darrels joy]

Venezuela plotted to kill Colombia president, Spain judge says

A Spanish judge on Monday charged that Venezuela plotted to kill Colombia President Álvaro Uribe, collaborating with rebel groups ETA and FARC to kill other political officials as well.

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  Colombia's president, Álvaro Uribe (l.), shook hands with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez (r.), as the Dominican Republic's president, Leonel Fernandez, looked on during the Rio Group Summit in Santo Domingo, in this March 2008 file photo.
  (Miraflores Press Office/AP/File)

By Tom A. Peter Correspondent
posted March 2, 2010 at 8:14 am EST


A diplomatic row has erupted between Spain and Venezuela after a Spanish judge accused officials in Caracas of plotting with rebel groups to kill Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and other political officials.

Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Velasco charged on Monday that the government of Hugo Chávez had been working as an intermediary between the Basque separatist group ETA and the Colombian guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The groups were allegedly plotting against prominent political figures living in or traveling through Spain. Venezuelan officials have dismissed these allegations as “biased and unfounded.”

Spanish officials ordered that 12 supposed members of ETA and FARC stand trial for conspiracy to commit murder and conduct terrorist acts, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"There is evidence … showing the cooperation of the Venezuelan government in the illegal collaboration between FARC and ETA," according to the indictment....

The indictments also bring fresh attention to Spain's National Court, whose judges act on their own investigations and are independent from Spain's executive and legislative branches.

Some judges have gained international attention, and criticism, for their handling of global cases involving other governments, including an investigation into allegations of US torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Although Mr. Chávez has yet to comment on the allegations, throughout Caracas the charges have been met with widespread contempt. “We do not house guerrillas, nor do we have a pact with guerrillas,” said Venezuelan Congressman Hayden Pirela in an article by Iran’s Press TV.

According to Judge Velasco’s 26-page report, however, up to six ETA members traveled to Venezuela to train FARC members how to use C4 explosives in cellphone bombs, reports The Guardian. In at least one instance, members from the Venezuelan military may have been present for the demolitions training. The report also says that ETA members may have traveled through Venezuela en route to FARC training camps in Colombia.

A Venezuelan agriculture ministry official, identified as Arturo Cubillas Fontán, is alleged to be the ETA's ringleader in Latin America and the link man with FARC.

Government officials in Caracas counter that many of the accusations in the report come from information that was obtained from a computer that used to belong to Raul Reyes, FARC’s former No. 2, who was killed by the Colombian military in March 2008, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune.

In its communique, the Venezuelan government calls it “surprising that the judge resuscitates the worn-out farce of the computer, which has already become a part of Colombian political folklore.”

The dispute is likely to strain leaders in Venezuela, Spain, and Colombia. Venezuela’s ailing economy and electricity shortages have already dealt a serious blow to Chávez’s popularity. In Spain and Colombia, it will test the diplomatic work of leaders who’ve been working to build stronger ties with Venezuela.

Although Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero has demanded an immediate explanation of the alleged terrorist links from Venezuela, the Spanish leader says he is still awaiting a response. The Olive Press, an online Spanish newspaper, reports that Mr. Zapatero said: “The government of Spain will decide what to do when it receives that explanation.”

Spain's foreign minister said Tuesday morning that Venezuela had pledged to cooperate with the Spanish court and investigate the matter, the Associated Press reported.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terro...ain-judge-says

[darrels joy]

Venezuela Plotted to Kill Rival, Spain Says

By SANTIAGO PEREZ And JOSé DE CóRDOBA

MADRID—Spain and Venezuela headed toward a potential diplomatic face-off after a Spanish judge on Monday accused Caracas of collaborating with rebel groups to assassinate Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and other top political figures.

Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Velasco alleged Monday that the Venezuelan government had collaborated with Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia's main guerrilla group in a plot against leaders living in or traveling to Spain that began in late 2003.


European Pressphoto Agency

Mr. Velasco, in 2009, alleged ties between Caracas, FARC and ETA.


The allegations were part of an indictment that ordered 12 alleged members of ETA and of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to stand trial on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

"There is evidence…showing the cooperation of the Venezuelan government in the illegal collaboration between FARC and ETA," according to the indictment.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, speaking at a news conference Monday in Hanover, Germany, said he had ordered his Foreign Ministry to "request an explanation from the Venezuelan government" regarding the allegations. "We are awaiting such explanation," Mr. Zapatero said.

Caracas responded angrily to the allegations. Venezuela's Foreign Ministry, in a statement, dismissed the charges as "biased and unfounded."

Hayden Pirela, a congressman from the ruling coalition of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, said the Spanish judge's allegations were part of a campaign "to discredit Venezuela," adding: "We don't give guerrillas refuge, or have any pact with guerrillas."

The allegations come at a bad time for Mr. Chávez, whose popularity is falling due to electricity shortages and an economy mired in recession and high inflation. They could also prove tricky for Colombia and Spain, both of which have been trying to move beyond past differences with Venezuela's populist leader.

The indictments also bring fresh attention to Spain's National Court, whose judges act on their own investigations and are independent from Spain's executive and legislative branches. Some judges have gained international attention, and criticism, for their handling of global cases involving other governments, including an investigation into allegations of U.S. torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Mr. Velasco, by contrast, has handled mainly local and less controversial terrorism cases, maintaining a low profile domestically and internationally.
Mr. Uribe, one of the targets of the alleged assassination plots, responded cautiously.

"I think we should react prudently and see what is going on through diplomatic channels," he told Colombian radio from Uruguay.

Another alleged target, former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, also demanded an explanation from Venezuela. "We are talking about an alleged plot against the lives of, among others, two Colombian acting heads of state," he said in a statement.

Mr. Velasco issued international arrest warrants and extradition requests for the 12 men named in the indictment, all of whom allegedly belong to either ETA or FARC and whose whereabouts are unknown. One man, identified as Arturo Cubillas Fontán, is believed to be living in Venezuela.

In detailing Caracas's alleged role, Mr. Velasco pointed to Mr. Cubillas Fontán, who the judge says led ETA's activities in Latin America since 1999 and acted as a link with the FARC. It says Mr. Cubillas Fontán was hired by Venezuela's Agriculture Ministry in 2005.

Mr. Cubillas Fontán's alleged contacts with the FARC included "military training for ETA members in the Colombian jungle, in exchange for ETA's help in Spain, locating terrorist targets sought by FARC," according to the indictment. Those targets included visiting Colombian dignitaries, including Messrs. Pastrana and Uribe and current Vice President Francisco Santos.

The document also says that during a training course on explosives, FARC members were accompanied by "an escort vehicle with Venezuelan soldiers that was arranged and organized" by Mr. Cubillas Fontán and another person.

Venezuela's government, in its statement, said Mr. Cubillas Fontán had been living in Venezuela since 1989 under a deal struck by then-Venezuelan leader Carlos Andrés Pérez and former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González.

Information used in the indictment came from the laptop computer of a top FARC guerrilla commander killed by Colombian forces in 2008. In the months that followed, the computer files revealed what international intelligence officials say are close ties between the FARC and top members of Mr. Chávez's government.

The Venezuelan government has long insisted that the information from the computers was made up by the Colombian government in an attempt to discredit Mr. Chávez, an allegation Colombia denies.

The indictments will prove challenging for Spain, one of Venezuela's major trade partners. The two sides improved their diplomatic relations under the stewardship of Mr. Zapatero, a leftist, but the road hasn't been smooth.

Mr. Chávez in 2008 made a surprise announcement he was nationalizing the Venezuelan franchise of Banco Santander, though the improved relations with Madrid might have helped the Spanish financial giant secure a $1.05 billion payment for the unit, more than many analysts expected.

Colombia has also been trying to mend fences with Venezuela, despite a rocky relationship in the past few years thanks largely to ideological differences between Mr. Chávez and the conservative Mr. Uribe. Last year, after Mr. Uribe agreed to host U.S. bases in Colombia, Mr. Chávez cut economic ties.

Last week, Mr. Chávez and Mr. Uribe got in a shouting match at a regional meeting of heads of state in Cancun, after Mr. Uribe told the Venezuelan leader to "be a man" and discuss the Venezuelan trade embargo. In the following days, both sides said they would try to bury the hatchet.

In addition to the 12 people who were ordered to stand trial on murder and terrorism charges, Mr. Velasco also charged Remedios García Albert with the crime of collaboration with a terrorist group, according to the indictment.

In the document, Mr. Velasco described Ms. García Albert as an alleged member of FARC's international support group residing in Spain and ordered her present herself in court for questioning on March 24.

According to court officials, Ms. García Albert, a Spanish national, is free on bail linked to another terrorism case. A lawyer for Ms. García Albert wasn't immediately available for comment.

Spain doesn't try people in absentia, so a trial for the other 12 people would take place only if they are arrested.

Latin America's oldest and biggest guerrilla group, the FARC has been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government and install a Marxist dictatorship for four decades. The guerrillas, who in 2001 encircled the capital, kidnapping motorists who ventured out at will, has been put on its heels by Mr. Uribe, a provincial lawyer who has revamped Colombia's military and driven the rebels back into Colombia's jungles.

In 2008, the Colombian army bombed the jungle hideout of Rául Reyes, the group's No. 2 commander. His laptop included details of attempts by top Venezuelan military and intelligence officials to give money and weapons to the FARC, which, like ETA is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

Once a peasant guerrilla army, the FARC lost most of its ideological motivation and turned to drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping for funding. It now has an estimated 8,000 combatants under arms, down from a high of about 18,000.

—Darcy Crowe contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...011683812.html#