Chavez joins Colombia arrest row

[bemildred]

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he is convinced a Colombian guerrilla leader was kidnapped in his country.

---

Mr Chavez said his government is investigating reports that members of the Venezuelan security forces may have taken part in the alleged kidnapping alongside Colombian intelligence agents.

He vowed to take up energetically any violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.

"This is a serious situation... if the Colombian police really did violate Venezuelan sovereignty it will of course have an impact on our bilateral relations," he said.

BBC

[Minstrel Boy]

1. some background:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1128384


Venezuela says inquiry indicates Colombian rebel was abducted

Thursday, January 6, 2005

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A senior Colombian rebel was apparently kidnapped in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas a day before authorities reported him captured in neighboring Colombia, Venezuela's interior minister said Thursday.

The information, gleaned in an official investigation, coincides with claims by the rebel's lawyer that he was abducted in Caracas and promises to worsen a growing international dispute.

Colombia on Thursday dismissed claims that Rodrigo Granda of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was abducted in Venezuela by Colombian agents, insisting police captured him at a hotel in the Colombian border city of Cucuta.

But Venezuelan police obtained a statement from a Colombian journalist who allegedly met Granda at a cafeteria in Caracas on December 13, Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said. Chacon said according to the journalist, whose identity wasn't released, Granda went outside to take a cell phone call and didn't return. Another witness told authorities of seeing a man shoved into a vehicle there, Chacon said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/01/06/venezuela.colombia.ap/

Alleged Kidnapping of Guerrilla Leader Sparks Tensions

...

"There are also signs that could implicate Colombian functionaries," the official communique added. "If this extremely grave possibility, which would violate Venezuelan sovereignty, is verified, the actions merited by the case will be taken."

A violation of national sovereignty, which would "drag us into a conflict that, although tragic, can and must only be resolved by Colombians themselves", will "definitely not be tolerated," the statement concludes.

...

And in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Rodríguez, after describing the kidnapping as "an international crime," added that his country also condemns "the cold-blooded murders of not only Venezuelan soldiers in recent months, but of Venezuelan civilians as well."

He was referring to an incident last September, when irregular Colombian combatants ambushed an inspection team of oil company employees and their military guard in southwestern Venezuela near the border, killing four soldiers and a female engineer.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26943

[two gun sid]

2. Wow. That has a smell

of US Intelligence Community all over it. I hope Chavez keeps his cool and doesn't do anything drastic.

[bemildred]

4. Chavez will play them like a flute. nt

[oasis]

3. Bush will soon call for regime change in Venezuela. Get the reserves ready

[Swamp Rat]

5. ¡Huey puta!

You better believe Wolfowitz and his Strauss buddies have a "Domino Theory" for Latin America as well.

[David__77]

7. Hopefully Colombia does "fall" to a left force.

That would be the crowning achievement of continental democratic revolution. Finally, Latin America can free itself of foreign domination.

[Gman]

6. Colombia: a Proxy Country for US Intervention in Venezuela

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/SHA412A.html

[AP]

8. Chavez was also kidnapped inside Venezuela by people working for another

country.