Posted on 04/08/2002 3:54:39 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia's leading newspaper reported Sunday that Colombian Marxist FARC rebels had established a camp across the border in Venezuela, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insisted there was no such base in his country.
The report by El Tiempo, which included interviews with rebels at the camp housing about 50 guerrillas, could further strain relations between the South American nations.
Venezuela has angrily denied an accusation last month by a Colombian army general that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombian rebels, known by their Spanish acronym FARC, were operating out of Venezuela.
In a television broadcast Sunday in Caracas, Chavez did not directly refer to the El Tiempo report, but insisted there were no Colombian rebel bases in his country.
"Venezuela is not a refuge or sanctuary for terrorists or guerrillas," the president said, making a general reference to what he called "lies coming out of Colombia."
El Tiempo said its reporters found the FARC camp consisting of wooden buildings with tin roofs in an area called El Ranchito, a 30-minute trek through jungle from the Colombian village of El Zulia. The newspaper quoted a local FARC commander, identified as Dario, as saying: "Our stay here is temporary. Comrade Chavez has nothing to do with this."
Dario also said the FARC rebels were forced to move into Venezuela after being chased by right-wing paramilitary outlaws, who target guerrillas.
Local residents said Venezuelan air force helicopters frequently fly over the area, El Tiempo reported.
Chavez said Venezuela's armed forces were patrolling "night and day" but had found no Colombian guerrilla camps, despite being given map coordinates by the Colombian army.
"We have determined that the Colombians who sent us (these coordinates) are a bit lost ... these points are in Colombian territory," the Venezuelan president said.
Colombian officials were not immediately available to comment on the El Tiempo report or Chavez's comments.
Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have come under strain in recent years amid accusations Chavez, a left-leaning former paratrooper, is sympathetic toward Colombian Marxist-inspired rebels.
"Venezuela doesn't support guerrillas, either in Colombia or anywhere else in the world," Chavez said Sunday.
"I hope this isn't going to carry on happening, Colombian security or military officers making up lies to try and confuse the world," he added.
On March 21, Colombian Army Gen. Martin Orlando Carreno reported the FARC had used a base inside Venezuela to launch attacks upon his troops in the northern Colombian border village of Tibu. Chavez dismissed the allegation, saying it was intended to smear his self-proclaimed "revolution."
Wednesday, Colombia called for a joint Colombian-Venezuelan commission to investigate the dispute.
Colombia's 38-year-old war pitting rebel groups against the army and right-wing paramilitary outlaws has intensified in recent years raising fears the fighting could spill across the border into Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.
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