Venezuela Asks for Details of Charges in ETA Case

[steven johnson]

Source: Associated Press

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 18, 2010

Filed at 10:19 p.m. ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela has asked authorities in Spain to detail their accusations against an alleged ETA operative accused of helping the Basque separatist group arrange explosives training with Colombian rebels in Venezuela.

Venezuela asked Interpol in Madrid for details of the indictment naming Arturo Cubillas Fontan, who is among a group of ETA suspects wanted by Spanish authorities, Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said Thursday.

El Aissami's suggestion that Venezuela is willing to investigate the accusations sharply contrasts with previous statements by Chavez, who railed against Spanish authorities for saying they would demand an explaination from his government about the allegations.

Cubillas is now a Venezuelan citizen married to a Venezuelan woman and has held a post in the agriculture ministry in Chavez's government.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/18/world/AP-LT-Venezuela-Spain.html?_r=1&ref=news

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Spanish judge Eloy Velasco claim that there is evidence "showing the cooperation of the Venezuelan government in the illegal collaboration between FARC and ETA." Specifically, the judge named Arturo Cubillas Fontan—an ETA member who, according to the indictments, has worked in Mr. Chávez's government—as a facilitator. Some of the evidence behind the indictment came from the laptop of late FARC number two Raul Reyes who was killed in Ecuador by the Colombian military in a cross-border raid in 2008. The authenticity of those files has been confirmed by Interpol.

Hugo Chavez originally called the terrorism indictment a U.S.-Spanish plot.