Chavez foe: Venezuela a refuge for Colombia rebels

AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/11/09 | Christopher Toothaker - ap

[NormsRevenge]

CARACAS, Venezuela – A prominent opponent of President Hugo Chavez accused the socialist leader's government on Wednesday of turning a blind eye to leftist Colombian rebels taking refuge in border areas of Venezuela.

Tachira state Gov. Cesar Perez said both leftist guerrillas and righist paramilitary groups from Colombia operate in nearly a third of his border state, but he said Venezuelan troops ignore the rebels and try to root out only the right-wing militias.

"The guerrillas are there with the government's blessing and the military has orders to leave them alone," Perez told The Associated Press in an interview. "The government only fights the paramilitaries, and I think it's good they fight them, but the government has to do the same with the guerrillas, and it isn't doing that."

Chavez has long denied aiding Colombian rebels, saying his government remains neutral in Colombia's decades-long armed conflict. He says he has ordered Venezuela's military to confront any illegal armed group that slips across the border.

[marron]

FARC has used Venezuela as its safe rear zone for years, since Chavez became president. It keeps its “high value” hostages there.

Chavez himself is FARC. He was on FARC’s payroll before he became president, and he has funded FARC and supplied them since he took office. In effect, Venezuela is at war with Colombia and has been for 10 years now, using FARC as a proxy. And, in effect, Chavez has been defacto FARC commander since the death of Marulanda, in my opinion.