[progchat_action] Diplomatic standoff over Colombia border incursion
 
Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 22:59:39 -0500 (CDT)


Venezuela and Colombia at a standoff over possible border incursion

By Simon Romero
International Herald Tribune
May 18, 2008

Lima: Tension between Colombia and Venezuela increased Sunday after
Colombia's defense minister rejected an accusation by the Venezuelan
government that 60 Colombian troops had illegally entered a border region of
Venezuela known to be a redoubt for Colombian guerrilla groups.

The different versions of Colombian troop activity in the area are part of a
dispute that has been festering for months. The dispute intensified in March
when Venezuela reacted to a Colombian incursion into Ecuador by saying it
would respond with military force if Colombia similarly pursued Colombian
rebels on Venezuelan soil.

Tension resurfaced last week after Interpol verified that computer files
recovered by Colombian forces in the Ecuadorean raid had not been altered.
The files refer to military and financial support by Venezuela of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a group classified as
terrorists by the United States and European Union.

No other evidence of any such arms deals has emerged.

In the latest instance, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said
Saturday night that Colombian troops had been detected Friday in Apure State
in western Venezuela, about 875 yards from the Colombian border. In a rare
written protest, Maduro requested Colombia "to immediately cease these
violations of international law."

Maduro said the Colombian battalion from Cubara Military Base in Colombia's
Arauca State was quickly told to return to Colombia after being detected.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia responded Sunday by claiming
that Maduro's assertion was false. "There was no incursion," said Santos in
comments broadcast on Colombian radio. "I looked into it and they were not
doing anything," Santos said of the Colombian troops.

But Venezuelan Information Minister Andris Izarra countered Colombia's claim
Sunday by appearing on state television in Caracas to assert that Venezuela
had photographs offering proof of the incursion.

The Colombian forces in question were on patrol along the Arauca River
separating Colombia from Venezuela. Residents of the Venezuelan side of the
river have asserted in recent years that rural areas there are rife with
guerrillas from the FARC and Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the
National Liberation Army, known by its initials in Spanish: ELN.

Clashes between the FARC and the ELN have been reported on Venezuelan
territory. Colombian paramilitaries, which oppose both rebel groups, are
also known to operate in three western states in Venezuela, Apure, Tachira
and Zulia. But sightings of Colombian troops on the Venezuelan side of the
frontier region are considered rare.

Following reports of the Colombian incursion, President Hugo Chavez canceled
his Sunday television program, which was scheduled to be broadcast from
Tachira, near the border with Colombia.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/18/america/farc.php

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

------------------------------------