The Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) is the first in Venezuela to react to the death of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) maximum leader, Manuel Marulanda. On hearing confirmation of Marulanda's death, the party's central committee held a minute of applause in his memory and all those who have died fighting the Colombian oligarchy. PCV leader, Oscar Figueras says his party has programmatic and ideological coincidences with the FARC and the fact that the PCV supports the FARC does not compromise the Venezuelan State or indeed, President Chavez. "Chavez has not vindicated himself as a Marxist Leninist." Figueras clarifies that there is no link between the FARC and the PCV regarding a political plan or military aid, just a coincidence in political aims. The PCV leader also rejects charges that the FARC has become a narco-trafficking cartel or a terrorist group ... "all organizations of military and ideological resistance are targets of the imperialist media." The PCV does not condemn armed struggle because it is one of the forms of struggle against the State that has closed democratic paths. The daughter of sixties Venezuelan guerrilla commander, Argimiro Gabaldon accuses the police in Lara State of assassinating Engels Alexander and Douglas Fabricio Perez Heredia. The two youngsters are sons of Ivan Perez, a member of the PRV-Ruptura organization started in the 70s after the end of the main guerrilla period in Venezuela. Tatiana Gabaldon claims that both youngsters were arrested, kidnapped, tortured and finally assassinated by the police on March, April 29 in Barquisimeto. A large number of signatories supporting the family reject the usual police report that the deaths were the result of a shootout. Gabaldon calls on what she calls the "old revolutionaries, the authentic moral reserves of the people" to start organizational forms and activities to defend the conduct and good standing of the young men who have been permanent militants in the revolution.
The Colombian government is already playing more games in an effort to confuse the FARC and gain PR brownie points. Armed Forces of Colombia commander, General Freddy Padilla claims that Manuel Marulanda's family is reclaiming the body. The General casts doubts on the cause of Marulanda's death on March 26, suggesting he could have died in an attack on an FARC camp. Padilla reveals that a total 626 mortar grenades were used by the army against FARC camps where they thought Marulanda was stationed. "189 grenades were directed against 160 objectives based on intelligence reports and planes released 114 bombs against 50 objectives, 20 of which were attacked between March 20-29 using 48 bombs. The General claims the FARC is riddled with division and suffering a physical vacuum and serious communication problems. Cynically, Padilla questions the authority of those who appointed Alfonso Cano as the new FARC general commander. The FARC founder, he concludes, will "go into history as the most despicable man in society and a symbol of kidnapping and narco trafficking."
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
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