BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/05/2008

More on the FARC-Chavez Connection

By Jonathan Winer

New materials released to the Associated Press and a Spanish newspaper reinforce earlier information showing ongoing operational cooperation between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's FARC guerrillas.

Documents reviewed by AP provided by Colombia from the computers seized by Colomba in the March 1 cross-border raid on FARC that killed Raul Reyes were described by AP as detailing years of close cooperation between top officials in Venezuela's government and military and FARC, including the construction of rebel training facilities on Venezuelan soil.

According to AP, the documents suggested that Chavez was preparing to loan the rebels at least $250 million to provide them with Russian weapons and possibly help them obtain surface-to-air missiles for use against Colombian military aircraft.

AP described the documents as framing "a joint strategic project between Venezuela and the Colombian rebels, with Venezuela even seeking rebel training in "asymmetrical warfare" in preparation for a feared U.S. invasion."

Meanwhile, on May 10, a Spanish newspaper reported that documents from the Raul Reyes computers seized by Colombia in the March 1 cross-border raid included an e-mail from FARC leader Ivan Marquez that Venezuelan head of state Chavez had discussed providing weapons to FARC with Belarus.

According to the Madrid newspaper, El Pais, a partially coded message mentioned a person the newspaper identified as Victor Sheiman, secretary of the Belarus Security Council and a close associate of Alexander Lukashenko, the hardline president of the former Soviet republic, as having discussed the provision of weapons with Chavez.

Source:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/05/more_on_the_farcchavez_connect.php

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