Colombia to probe report of Venezuelan link to rebels

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's government announced Thursday that it would investigate reports that Venezuelan military officers met with Colombian rebels inside Colombian territory, in an episode that has strained relations between the two neighbors.

The announcement by Colombia's foreign minister, Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, came a day after four Venezuelan journalists released a grainy videotape in Caracas, Venezuela, showing Colombian guerrillas warmly receiving a delegation of Venezuelan military officers on July 6, 2000.

The chief of Venezuela's armed forces, Gen. Lucas Rincon, said the encounter was a routine humanitarian mission intended to secure the release of a Venezuelan hostage who was in rebel hands.

But the release of the video has raised questions in both countries about possible ties between President Hugo Chavez's left-leaning government and Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The Venezuelan reporters said the video was provided to them by military officers unhappy with Chavez's appointment of a retired naval captain, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, as the new interior minister.

On Thursday, El Universal, a Caracas newspaper that is critical of Chavez, reported that Rodriguez gave the president a memo in 1999 urging him to provide medicine, fuel and food to Colombian rebels.

The video and the newspaper report were fuel for critics of Chavez who contend that he favors cooperating with the Colombian rebels at the expense of relations with Bogota.

Chavez has often broken diplomatic protocol to rebuke Colombia, saying it is run by oligarchs and accusing President Andres Pastrana of being too close to the United States.

"This episode gets to the heart of the situation, showing that Chavez is on the side of the guerrillas," Anibal Romero, a Venezuelan political analyst, said in an interview by telephone from Caracas.

"People are convinced Chavez really wants to establish a leftist regime in Venezuela and then promote those ideas in other places by providing political and military help to subversive groups."

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Chavez acknowledged that the Venezuelan Army had in the past met with Colombian guerrillas, but only to negotiate for the release of hostages.

Chavez said it was "absolutely false" that his government had direct ties to the rebels, although he said that future encounters between his government and guerrillas were possible.

Here in Colombia, de Soto said his government would evaluate the "manner, time and place, and the context and scope" of the encounter shown on the videotape.

De Soto also made some conciliatory comments, telling reporters that Venezuela had contributed to the Colombian peace process. He said he was aware that there had been what he called humanitarian contacts between Venezuelan officials and Colombian rebels.

Because Venezuela's government has earned the trust of Colombian rebel leaders, it has been able to play a central role in Pastrana's peace negotiations with the guerrillas.

Well, I'm learning all the time.

I don't know if you saw this (January 31, 2002) -Andean region approved as free trade zone (Chavez rails against capitalism)--[Excerpt] Chavez, in particular, stood out as the lone leader ranting against capitalism, which he said only benefits a minority while leaving the rest behind.

``Is it with this economic model - which excludes peasants and the indigenous, and strips the young of their fundamental human rights to education, health, land, and life itself - that we are going to integrate our continent?'' asked Chavez. ``From Venezuela, we say no.'' Toledo asked the community to put social concerns ahead of economic ones, calling on them to focus on how to eradicate illiteracy, reduce infant mortality rates and finance the war against poverty.

Plans for the Andean region, however, are still vulnerable to waves created by other nations on the continent. It is feared that Chile's plans to purchase 10 F-16 combat planes, for example, could trigger an arms race in the region. And no one knows yet the extent the ongoing economic crisis in Argentina will have on the nations to the north.

The summit comes at a time when each of the Andean nations is dealing with some level of political instability, ranging from Colombia's fragile peace talks with guerrillas to Chavez's drastic drop in popularity. [End Excerpt]

Birds of a feather flock together.

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December 22, 2001-- Venezuela Army Head Replaced Amid Graft Allegations-- By Silene Ramirez [Full Text] --CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - One of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez' most prominent supporters in the country's armed forces, General Victor Cruz Weffer, was replaced as head of the army on Saturday following allegations of corruption made against him. Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel announced the substitution to reporters in Caracas, but declined to give reasons, saying these were known only to the president, who made the decision.

The Venezuelan head of state, himself a former paratrooper, is commander in chief of all the armed forces. ``Just as the head of state names or replaces a minister, so he can name and replace any head of a section of the armed forces,'' Rangel said after the handover ceremony in which Cruz ceded command to his replacement, General Efrain Vasquez. Reporters were barred from attending the handover ceremony. Cruz, who was known to be one of a group of senior officers loyal to Chavez in the Venezuelan military, had become the target of public allegations of corruption made by leading journalists and opposition politicians. The allegations included accusations of negligence, misuse of public funds and making irregular bank deposits.

FREE TO SPECULATE

Asked by reporters whether these were what had motivated the replacement of Cruz, Rangel replied: ``You are free to interpret. Whatever I tell you, you will still go on speculating and that's normal, absolutely normal.'' Cruz had been commander of the army, currently the strongest branch of the armed forces, since July. He had occupied a number of senior positions since the president, an outspoken, left-leaning populist, won a landslide election three years ago with a pledge to eliminate poverty and unemployment and end rampant corruption.

FLAGSHIP SOCIAL PROGRAM INVESTIGATED

Cruz had headed a flagship social program introduced by Chavez, the Plan Bolivar 2000, in which members of the armed forces worked alongside civilians to build schools and hospitals and also assisted the population with food and regional infrastructure projects. The program was a key plank of the tough-talking president's self-proclaimed ``revolution'' aimed at closing the gap between the wealthy minority and poor majority in Venezuela, which is the world's No. 4 oil exporter. Following allegations of widespread corruption and misuse of state funds in the Plan Bolivar 2000 program under Cruz, the country's Comptroller-General opened an official investigation, which failed to produce any concrete results. But the allegations were embarrassing for the president, who defended the innocence of officers facing the allegations.

CONFRONTING A CHALLENGE

Chavez, who has insisted the country's armed forces remain loyal to him, is currently confronting a determined challenge from business and labor opponents who are trying to block disputed government reform laws covering everything from land and oil to fisheries and finance.

The president's opponents staged a widely-supported national protest strike against the laws Dec. 10 and are also challenging the contested legislation in the Supreme Court and parliament. Chavez has bluntly refused to suspend or revise the reforms, which include a law to redistribute unproductive private rural estates to poor peasants and another to assert state control over the strategic oil industry. His opponents say the laws are inspired by Fidel Castro's communist Cuba and will destroy jobs and investment by increasing state interference in the economy.

Although Chavez has expressed confidence in the loyalty of the armed forces, he has denounced what he says are plots and conspiracies by opponents to stir up trouble in the barracks. Critics of the tough-talking president say conservative members of the armed forces, many of whom were trained in the United States, are unhappy about his left-wing policies and over his friendly ties with communist Cuba and China. [End]

Venezuela Paper Calls Chavez Dictator-- ``What a poor and tragic destiny awaits us if we don't stop this apprentice dictator in time,'' the newspaper said.

Venezuela's Chavez Vacating Presidential Palace-Puts brother in charge of land and agriculture-- Chavez, who has renamed his South American country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in honor of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, announced the surprise move at the swearing in of a new higher education minister.

Venezuela's Chavez Names Coup Plotter as VP-- Since taking office three years ago, Chavez has alarmed many analysts by naming a number of active and retired military officials to senior government posts, including the current foreign minister and the head of state oil company PDVSA. He has also reportedly irked many in the armed forces by raising his fellow conspirators in the botched 1992 uprising to influential positions in the military.

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