Former Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations, Milos Alcalay presented a letter to the Colombian Ambassador in Venezuela, Fernando Marin Valencia on behalf of a group called "The 400." Alcalay reiterates that the group has been constant in its defense of democratic elections and the freedom of political prisoners in Venezuela since it was founded after the recall referendum in 2004. Alcalay rejects the Venezuelan government's petition to have the FARC recognized as a belligerent force. "Venezuelans are not in agreement with a criminal organization, an organization that holds 700 hostages, takes part in narco-trafficking and has established a series of mechanisms of terror, death and assassinations."
President Chavez says Venezuela is prepared to receive three former members of the Colombian Congress whom the FARC has promised to release shortly. At a rally of supporters yesterday in Carabobo to celebrate the 16th anniversary of his failed uprising, President Chavez has announced that the government has already undertaken contacts and mapped out movements to secure the release of the three Colombians. Chavez urges FARC to give up kidnapping as a political and military tool. The three hostages to be released are: Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran. Chavez insists that there is a civil war in Colombia with official Armed Forces and insurgent Armed Forces, thousands of men and women who for 60 years have controlled a large amount of territory in Colombia. "The insurgent forces in Colombia have another State and laws ... it is a reality that one cannot ignore."
President Chavez has attacked the Colombian oligarchy for trying to divide the Venezuelan military by accusing General Hugo Carvajal Barrios of involvement in narco-trafficking without any proof and of ordering the deaths of two Colombian military officers. The accusation was published in the magazine Semana and has been taken up by sectors of the Venezuelan media. Carvajal Barrios is currently chief of Venezuela's military intelligence directorate. The magazine also accuses him of protecting narco-trafficking king, Wiber Varela who was found dead last week in Merida State.
Colombian Senator, Piedad Cordoba has welcomed family members of three Colombian members of Congress shortly to be released by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Speaking from Caracas, Cordoba insists that President Chavez is a fundamental factor in the release of hostages and any process on which peace in Colombia will be built. Commenting on the "World against FARC" rallies in Colombia, the Senator dismisses the event as one of hatred and racism and of exclusion. "I think those kind of things are wrong because we are rejecting 60 years of war and we must to build a real and a just peace in our country."
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has told Spanish newspaper, El Mundo that the interests of his country are more important than his personal relation with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Uribe says Colombia must tread carefully because it is a country that is regaining confidence and seeing an increase in the level of investment as never before. The three pillars of his government, he states, are democratic security, confidence of investors from a perspective of social responsibility and the struggle for social cohesion. Five years ago, the President comments, many Colombians did not believe in the State and tried to solve their own problems in their own way. "We have managed to recover confidence during the last few years and citizens have passed from a state of indifference and fear to one of reaction against terrorism and crime."
Update: Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro has met family members of the three hostages to be released. Maduro has informed them about the government's movements to bring the three congressmen to Venezuela to unite them with their families. Spokespersons for the families insist that negotiations and not military actions is the only way to bring peace and reconciliation to a divided Colombia.
In a separate note: President Chavez has defended State Political & Security (DISIP) Police chief, General Henry Rangel Silva saying he has been unjustly attacked in the $800,000 briefcase affaire supposedly to finance the presidential campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina. The case is currently in US courts where the name of Rangel Silva cropped up.
Patrick O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@googlemail.com
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