Capture of FARC member creates crisis between Venezuela and Colombia
[[Image:South america.jpg|right|200px|thumb|South America]]
{{byline|date=January 15, 2005|location=South America}} 
On December 14, Colombian officers arrested Rodrigo Granda, the chief of international relations for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - FARC. The Venezuelan government said Granda was arrested inside [[w:Venezuela|Venezuela]]'s borders, so the arrest was illegal and Granda was actually kidnapped. The Colombian government said that Venezuelans detained Granda inside Venezuela borders because of a reward offered for his capture by the Colombian government. They said he was moved to the region near the border of Venezuela, but inside Colombian territory, where officers finally arrested him. 

The FARC is considered a [[w:terrorist|terrorist]] group by the government of Colombia and by the [[w:USA|United States]]  [http://www.state.gov/coalition/cr/fs/12713.htm], a Colombian ally in the fight against FARC.

The [[w:FARC|FARC]]  is a [[w:Marxist|Marxist]] revolutionary group with about 12,000 members. The group originated from the Colombian Communist Party of the 1960s. The FARC's main stated objective is the creation of a Communist government in Colombia. Colombian authorities routinely search their members.

During the Cold War, the movement received some help from the former Soviet Union. In recent years, the majority of its funding has come from kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, and illegal trade in [http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mccraw052003.htm  cocaine]. The FARC attacks Colombian political and military installations and what the group considers to be strategic targets.

The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, or MIPT, an organization based in Oklahoma, US, has associated FARC with 446 incidents resulting in 955 injuries and 429 fatalities since 1968. On September 19, 2004, the FARC killed Luis Eduardo Duque Varon, Antonio Jose Duque Varon, and Alfonso Lopez Nivia, a move supposedly motivated by the victims' involvement with the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

There are evidences that the FARC has liaisons with Latin-American criminals, as for example the Brazilian drug-dealer  [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u23513.shl Fernandinho Beira-Mar] arrested  by Colombian army in Colombia near the border of Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. Beira-Mar [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u27593.shl  confessed] his liaisons with the guerrilla to authorities. According to the COBRA (alias for Colombia-Brazil) operation report of Brazilian police the FARC maintains drug factories in the [[w:Amazon Rainforest|Amazon]], near the board of Colombia. The manufactered drugs would be dispatched [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/drogas.shtml to Colombia, United States and Brazil]. 

The FARC has advocates among some people and organizations in Latin America. Some of the group's principal sympathizers are located in Venezuela and Brazil. According to them the FARC is victim of a calumny campaign organized by their enemies, mainly the US.
FARC Commander Manuel Marulanda Vélez and others are part of the Marxist and revolutionary magazine [http://www.nodo50.org/americalibre/consejo.htm America Libre]. The Brazilian Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, known as Frei Betto, a celebrity in Brazil [[w:PT|PT]] and a personal friend of Lula, was former director of the magazine. Raul Reyes, a FARC commander, described the liaisons with President Lula in an interview to Folha de São Paulo newspaper in [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u62119.shtml  August 24 2003] and said he met Lula for the first time in San Salvador during the [[w:Foro de São Paulo|Foro de São Paulo]]. Olivio Dutra, [http://www.cidades.gov.br/  Minister of Cities] of Lula, received FARC leaders in 2001 when he was the [[w:Rio Grande do Sul|Rio Grande do Sul]] governor. In March 20, 2002, in [[w:Ribeirão Preto|Ribeirão Preto]] [http://www.estadao.com.br/agestado/noticias/2002/mar/20/9.htm  was open a pro-FARC comitee] by the Sports Secretary Leopoldo Paulino (PSB) in the government of the mayor Antônio Palocci Filho (PT). Presently Palocci is the [http://www.brasil.gov.br/estrutura.htm  Economy Minister] of Lula government. Also the FARC is a member of the [[w:Foro de São Paulo|Foro de São Paulo]] since 1990, organization guided by PT and Lula. Brazilian president [[w:Luis Inacio Lula da Silva|Luis Inacio Lula da Silva]] don't recognize the FARC as a terrorist movement and say they don't have any illegal relationship with the organization. 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez already admitted [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u68503.shtml  he encontered] FARC leaders between 1998-2002. According to him the meetings were a request of Colombian President [[w:Andrés Pastrana|Andrés Pastrana]] who wanted to negotiate with the rebels.
Venezuelan president has been repeatedly accused covering FARC. The Colombian Senator Enrique Gómez, member of the outer subjects commission of the Congress said in a interview to the Colombian Caracol Radio: "a conspiracy between the FARC and President Chávez has always existed" ([http://www.caracol.com.co/realarchi.asp?id=137933    '''audio''']). Colombian Senador Jimmy Chamorro has the same opinion:"there is no doubt about the narrow relation of Chávez and the FARC, and thus it is demonstrated with the case of the guerrilla Rodrigo Granda" ([http://www.caracol.com.co/realarchi.asp?id=137936 '''audio''']).
The US newspaper [http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/coar/ANALISIS/analisis/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-1944101.html   Washington Post also accused] Chavez of giving protection and suport to the FARC rebels.
The Venezuelan union leader of CTV (Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela - Confederations of Workers of Venezuela) who lives in Costa Rica(he requested political asylum) Carlos Ortega [http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/historico/feb132004/INT/A713N3.html  said about Chavez in 2004]:"In Venezuela Chavez doesn't rule, who rules is [[w:Fidel Castro|Fidel Castro]], the narc-guerilla mainly the FARC; in Venezuela who governs is the international terrorism." 
The Venezuelan deputy for the opposition Julio Montoya said that more than 500 members of FARC have become Venezuelan citizens irregularly and that they have Venezuelan identities. Chavez denies the allegations about his government covering the FARC guerrilla.

Since the arrest of Granda,  Chavez is protesting and accusing Colombian authorities of entering illegally in Venezuela and kidnap. Chavez said in a interview to the journalist  Eleazar Diaz Rangel (newspaper ''Últimas Noticias'') that he has proofs that Rodrigo Granda, FARC counselor, was captured illegally in [[w:Caracas|Caracas]]  and moved to  [[w:Cúcuta|Cúcuta]], where the Colombian authorities said the arrestment was done ([http://www.caracol.com.co/realarchi.asp?id=138317    '''audio''']). 
According to him the Colombian authorities are lying when they said they arrested Granda inside Colombia ([http://www.caracol.com.co/realarchi.asp?id=138317 '''audio''']). The Vice-President of Venezuela protested against the Granda arrestment and [http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.asp?id=138328  said] that if Colombia authorities wanted Granda, they should have requested his extradition by legall ways  ([http://www.caracol.com.co/realarchi.asp?id=138328   '''audio''')]. 

According to the Colombian Minister of Defense, Jorge Alberto Uribe,  the Colombian government paid a reward for the capture of Roberto Granda. Venezuelans detained Granda inside Venezuela borders because of a reward offered for his capture and they moved Granda to the region near the border of Venezuela,  inside Colombian territory, where Colombian officers finally arrested him. Venezuelan deputy Luis Tascón  said that the reward was of US $1.5 million. The Colombian government did not reveal the amount of the reward. 

Because of the Granda case the President Hugo Chavez said that the Venezuelan ambassador should leave [[w:Bogotá|Bogotá]] in Colombia and that the trade agreements between Venezuela and Colombia should be paralised. Chavez demmands that the Colombian President [[w:Alvaro Uribe|Alvaro Uribe]] do a public international retraction excusing for the invasion of the Venezuelan territory and the kidnapping of Granda.

Uribe proposed the creation of a special comissition, so the severe crisis can be resolved. He emphasize Colombia [http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.asp?id=138881  did not invaded the Venezuelan territory]. The US governemnt supports Colombia in this crisis and demmands Chavez to give a clear declaration about [http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/poli/2005-01-16/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-1944244.html   his position related to the FARC.] 

==References==

*{{source|url=http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;?&storyID=7334479|title=Venezuela Halts Colombia Business Deals Over Kidnap|pub=Reuters|author=Pascal Fletcher|date=January 14, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7259200
|title=Colombia Rebel 'Kidnap' Poses Headache for Chavez   
|pub=Reuters
|author=
|date=January 14, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/01/14/venezuela.colombia.ap/
|title=Chavez suspends diplomatic, trade ties with Colombia 
|pub=CNN
|author=Associated Press
|date=January 14, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4160341.stm
|title=Colombia rejects 'kidnap' charge 
|pub=BBC
|author=
|date=January 10, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15615212.htm  
|title=Colombia captures 'chancellor' of FARC rebel group
|pub=Reuters
|author=
|date=December 16, 2004
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03340947.htm 
|title=Colombia's FARC say rebel kidnapped from Venezuela
|pub=Reuters
|author=
|date=January 3, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041021-021132-9399r.htm
|title=Analysis: Chavez buys Russian military equipment
|pub=United Press International
|author=Carlos Coelho
|date=October 22, 2004
}}

*{{source|url=http://elobservador.rctv.net/VenezuelaResumen/Resumen.aspx
|title=Luis Tascón denunció que Granda fue capturado por caza-recompensas
|pub=El Observador
|author=
|date=January 11, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.asp?id=138611
|title=Más de 500 miembros de las Farc tiene cédulas venezolanas, denuncia parlamentario
|pub=Caracol Radio
|author=
|date=January 13, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/paisonline/notas/Enero152005/A215N1.html
|title=Venezuela ‘congeló’ todo tipo de relaciones con Colombia 
|pub=El Pais
|author=
|date=January 15, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.prensaescrita.com/diarios.php?codigo=AME&pagina=http://www.eluniversal.com
|title=Colombia pagó por información sobre Granda
|pub=El Universal
|author=
|date=January 13, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://theletterisback.blogspot.com/
|title=The Letter is back (Free and democratic opinion on Venezuela)
|pub=
|author=
|date=
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=96
|title=Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Profile
|pub=National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT)
|author=
|date=January 13, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/01/10/colombia.venezuela.rebel.ap/
|title=Colombia denies troops entered Venezuela
|pub=CNN
|author=
|date=January 10, 2005
}}

*{{source|url=http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/10_03_02brazil.cfm
|title=Brazil: Modern Day Al Capone Shuts Down Rio De Janeiro
|pub=Drug Policy Alliance
|author=
|date=October 3, 2002
}}

*{{source|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/reuters/ult112u13352.shl 
|title=EUA indiciam Fernandinho Beira-Mar e Farc por narcotráfico
|pub=Folha de São Paulo(AF)
|author=
|date=March 18, 2002
}}

*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1293712.stm
|title=Colombia 'to deport Brazilian drug lord'
|pub=BBC News UK
|author=
|date=April 24, 2001
}}

*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/784422.stm
|title=Running drugs down the Amazon
|pub=BBC News UK
|author=
|date=June 9, 2000
}}

*{{source|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u27593.shl 
|title=Interrogatório define entrega de Beira-Mar
|pub=Folha de São Paulo(AF)
|author=Estanislau Maria
|date=April 24, 2001
}}

*{{source|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u24311.shl
|title=Saiba quem é Fernandinho Beira-Mar
|pub=Folha de São Paulo(AF)
|author=Ricardo Feltrin
|date=March 13, 2001
}}

*{{source|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u33353.shl 
|title=PM apreende cocaína e manual de guerrilha em morro no Rio
|pub=Folha de São Paulo(AF)
|author=
|date=July 20, 2001
}}

    
{{archive}}

[[Category:South America]]
[[Category:Venezuela]]
[[Category:Colombia]]
[[Category:Politics and conflicts]]
[[Category:Published]]
South America
 
On December 14, Colombian officers arrested Rodrigo Granda, the chief of international relations for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - FARC. The Venezuelan government said Granda was arrested inside Venezuela's borders, so the arrest was illegal and Granda was actually kidnapped. The Colombian government said that Venezuelans detained Granda inside Venezuela borders because of a reward offered for his capture by the Colombian government. They said he was moved to the region near the border of Venezuela, but inside Colombian territory, where officers finally arrested him. 

The FARC is considered a terrorist group by the government of Colombia and by the United States  , a Colombian ally in the fight against FARC.

The FARC  is a Marxist revolutionary group with about 12,000 members. The group originated from the Colombian Communist Party of the 1960s. The FARC's main stated objective is the creation of a Communist government in Colombia. Colombian authorities routinely search their members.

During the Cold War, the movement received some help from the former Soviet Union. In recent years, the majority of its funding has come from kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, and illegal trade in   cocaine. The FARC attacks Colombian political and military installations and what the group considers to be strategic targets.

The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, or MIPT, an organization based in Oklahoma, US, has associated FARC with 446 incidents resulting in 955 injuries and 429 fatalities since 1968. On September 19, 2004, the FARC killed Luis Eduardo Duque Varon, Antonio Jose Duque Varon, and Alfonso Lopez Nivia, a move supposedly motivated by the victims' involvement with the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

There are evidences that the FARC has liaisons with Latin-American criminals, as for example the Brazilian drug-dealer   Fernandinho Beira-Mar arrested  by Colombian army in Colombia near the border of Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. Beira-Mar   confessed his liaisons with the guerrilla to authorities. According to the COBRA (alias for Colombia-Brazil) operation report of Brazilian police the FARC maintains drug factories in the Amazon, near the board of Colombia. The manufactered drugs would be dispatched  to Colombia, United States and Brazil. 

The FARC has advocates among some people and organizations in Latin America. Some of the group's principal sympathizers are located in Venezuela and Brazil. According to them the FARC is victim of a calumny campaign organized by their enemies, mainly the US.
FARC Commander Manuel Marulanda Vélez and others are part of the Marxist and revolutionary magazine  America Libre. The Brazilian Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, known as Frei Betto, a celebrity in Brazil PT and a personal friend of Lula, was former director of the magazine. Raul Reyes, a FARC commander, described the liaisons with President Lula in an interview to Folha de São Paulo newspaper in   August 24 2003 and said he met Lula for the first time in San Salvador during the Foro de São Paulo. Olivio Dutra,   Minister of Cities of Lula, received FARC leaders in 2001 when he was the Rio Grande do Sul governor. In March 20, 2002, in Ribeirão Preto   was open a pro-FARC comitee by the Sports Secretary Leopoldo Paulino (PSB) in the government of the mayor Antônio Palocci Filho (PT). Presently Palocci is the   Economy Minister of Lula government. Also the FARC is a member of the Foro de São Paulo since 1990, organization guided by PT and Lula. Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva don't recognize the FARC as a terrorist movement and say they don't have any illegal relationship with the organization. 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez already admitted   he encontered FARC leaders between 1998-2002. According to him the meetings were a request of Colombian President Andrés Pastrana who wanted to negotiate with the rebels.
Venezuelan president has been repeatedly accused covering FARC. The Colombian Senator Enrique Gómez, member of the outer subjects commission of the Congress said in a interview to the Colombian Caracol Radio: "a conspiracy between the FARC and President Chávez has always existed" (    'audio'). Colombian Senador Jimmy Chamorro has the same opinion:"there is no doubt about the narrow relation of Chávez and the FARC, and thus it is demonstrated with the case of the guerrilla Rodrigo Granda" ( 'audio').
The US newspaper    Washington Post also accused Chavez of giving protection and suport to the FARC rebels.
The Venezuelan union leader of CTV (Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela - Confederations of Workers of Venezuela) who lives in Costa Rica(he requested political asylum) Carlos Ortega   said about Chavez in 2004:"In Venezuela Chavez doesn't rule, who rules is Fidel Castro, the narc-guerilla mainly the FARC; in Venezuela who governs is the international terrorism." 
The Venezuelan deputy for the opposition Julio Montoya said that more than 500 members of FARC have become Venezuelan citizens irregularly and that they have Venezuelan identities. Chavez denies the allegations about his government covering the FARC guerrilla.

Since the arrest of Granda,  Chavez is protesting and accusing Colombian authorities of entering illegally in Venezuela and kidnap. Chavez said in a interview to the journalist  Eleazar Diaz Rangel (newspaper Últimas Noticias) that he has proofs that Rodrigo Granda, FARC counselor, was captured illegally in Caracas  and moved to  Cúcuta, where the Colombian authorities said the arrestment was done (    'audio'). 
According to him the Colombian authorities are lying when they said they arrested Granda inside Colombia ( 'audio'). The Vice-President of Venezuela protested against the Granda arrestment and   said that if Colombia authorities wanted Granda, they should have requested his extradition by legall ways  (   'audio'). 

According to the Colombian Minister of Defense, Jorge Alberto Uribe,  the Colombian government paid a reward for the capture of Roberto Granda. Venezuelans detained Granda inside Venezuela borders because of a reward offered for his capture and they moved Granda to the region near the border of Venezuela,  inside Colombian territory, where Colombian officers finally arrested him. Venezuelan deputy Luis Tascón  said that the reward was of US $1.5 million. The Colombian government did not reveal the amount of the reward. 

Because of the Granda case the President Hugo Chavez said that the Venezuelan ambassador should leave Bogotá in Colombia and that the trade agreements between Venezuela and Colombia should be paralised. Chavez demmands that the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe do a public international retraction excusing for the invasion of the Venezuelan territory and the kidnapping of Granda.

Uribe proposed the creation of a special comissition, so the severe crisis can be resolved. He emphasize Colombia   did not invaded the Venezuelan territory. The US governemnt supports Colombia in this crisis and demmands Chavez to give a clear declaration about    his position related to the FARC. 

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South America Venezuela Colombia Politics and conflicts Published