Tag Archives: Colombia

May
11
2011
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Confiscated FARC Files Show Longstanding Ties with Chávez Government

Colombia’s main rebel group and top Chávez government officials – including President Hugo Chávez himself – have a complicated and often turbulent history of cooperation. That is the news making headlines all over the world today, following Tuesday’s unveiling of a study of thousands of files belonging to FARC’s former second in command, Raúl Reyes, that were confiscated in a 2008 raid in Ecuador.

The 240-page analysis, “The FARC Files: Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Secret Archive of Raul Reyes,” was released by London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) after a 2-year investigation of more than 8,000 documents found in eight computer hard drives. In its study, the IISS concluded that:

–Reyes met with President Chávez shortly after he took office in 1999 and offered military and monetary assistance designed to “change the military balance of power in Colombia.”

–The Venezuelan government funded FARC’s office in Caracas and President Chávez allowed the FARC “to use Venezuelan territory for refuge, cross-border operations and political activity, and effectively assigned the group a role in Venezuelan civil society.”

–Two of Mr. Chávez’s main liaisons with the FARC were Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, the number two at Venezuela’s National Intelligence Directorate (Disip) and Freddy Bernal, the former mayor of the municipality of Libertador.

–President Chávez promised $300 million in 2007 to the FARC.

–Following a 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chávez from power, the FARC provided training in guerrilla and urban warfare to various militias that were formed to defend Mr. Chávez.

–In September 2002, FARC’s man in Caracas, Rodrigo Granda, sent a message saying that “Amin,” his contact in Venezuela’s Disip, needed experts in small arms and explosives “to get rid of counter-revolutionaries.” Later that year, opposition members were shot and bombs were planted during public protests against the government.

–A 2002 “Contingency Plan” developed with Chávez’s approval specified that FARC-trained paramilitary forces would be used to “‘attack, neutralize, or liquidate’ opposition supporters, political leaders and resources through sabotage and targeted assassination.”

The Venezuelan strongman has said the documents are fake propaganda aimed at harming his government. The documents, however, have been authenticated by Interpol. Last month, Mr. Chávez admitted publicly that some of his political allies had collaborated with Colombian rebels, but insisted they “went behind all our backs.”

The analysis also details various instances in which President Chávez has betrayed the FARC. In April, Mr. Chávez ordered the extradition to Colombia of Joaquín Pérez, a suspected senior FARC operative who had been living in Sweden.

The IIS analysis also concluded that Ecuador President Rafael Correa – a close personal friend of Mr. Chávez – was directly involved in requesting financial backing from the FARC for his presidential campaign. The IISS study comes at a time when Caracas and Bogotá have dramatically improved their ties after a period of incendiary bilateral relations. Only time will tell how long the honeymoon will last.

 
Apr
22
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 4/22/11

In this week’s roundup… alleged drug lord Walid Makled earns more headlines as he threatens to expose the role of the Chávez government in drug trafficking; and power outages, inflation, and rising food prices persist in Venezuela, plaguing the country’s economic indicators.

First come, first served, The Economist
As drug traffickers go, Walid Makled was a rather small catch. His family in Venezuela owns an airline, a transport company, and loading docks and warehouses in the port of Puerto Cabello, all of which he allegedly used to ship at least 10 tonnes of cocaine to the United States. But since his arrest last August in the Colombian border town of Cúcuta, the United States and Venezuela have both been salivating over the prospect of getting their hands on him.

Analysis: Drug case shows Venezuela-Colombia detente, Reuters
An accused drug lord sitting in a high-security jail outside Bogota has become an unlikely symbol of friendship for Colombia and Venezuela whose rivalry for years mirrored Latin America’s deep ideological fissures. Walid Makled, a Venezuelan also known as “The Turk”, is suspected of being one of the world’s biggest traffickers, helping ship tones of Colombian cocaine to the United States. He boasts of a $1.2 billion fortune — and alleges members of President Hugo Chavez’s socialist government helped him make that.

Venezuela Raises Some Food Costs 48% as Chavez Struggles to Slow Inflation, Bloomberg
Venezuela raised government-set price caps on some food products by as much as 48 percent even as President Hugo Chavez’s government struggles to contain one of the highest inflation rates in the world. The government raised the price on cans of powdered milk 48 percent to 23.7 bolivars ($5.50) and on corn oil by 36 percent, according to a resolution published today in the Official Gazette. The costs of sunflower oil and mixed vegetable oil were also raised.

Power Shortages Spark Doubts Over Venezuela’s Economic Growth, The Wall Street Journal
Blackouts and electricity rationing across Venezuela are raising doubts that the country will reach ambitious economic growth targets set by the government in recent days. To meet the lofty goals, economists and analysts say President Hugo Chavez will likely need to offset lost productivity as factories and businesses grapple with the unreliable power supply by propping up the economy with increasing public spending.

 
Apr
15
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 4/15/11

In case you missed it, here are some of the most relevant stories of the week. Oil reserves in Venezuela are dwindling, while the government ban on currency exchange negatively impacts Venezuelan businessmen. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela has the worst inflation rate in the world. As Colombia reassures its commitment to hand over suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled to Venezuelan authorities, accusations abound that Venezuela itself is becoming a drug state.

Venezuela: vanishing foreign reserves, Financial Times

There’s something fishy going on with Venezuela’s public finances. Given that oil prices have doubled in the last two years, and that by law state oil company PDVSA should transfer a portion of its profits to the central bank, one might expect foreign exchange reserves to have strengthened considerably. They haven’t. In fact, they have been on a downward trend. Surprising? Not really. For some time now, the Chavez administration’s economic management has been unorthodox, not to say anarchic.

Chavez Policy Sends Venezuelans on Cross-Border Exodus for Cash, Bloomberg

For Gustavo Posse, the easiest way to get dollars these days involves a 403-mile drive from Valencia, in central Venezuela, to Cucuta in Colombia. Posse, the owner of a medical clinic, made the drive last month to get hard currency to pay for the surgical equipment he was importing from the U.S. The 58-year-old businessman said he asked the Venezuelan government to sell him dollars. The answer was no.

Inflation: Venezuela World’s Worst, Latin Business Chronicle

Venezuela and Argentina have the world’s highest inflation rates. In Latin America, Peru and El Salvador boast the lowest rates. Venezuela posted the world’s highest inflation last year, followed by Argentina, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 186 countries worldwide.

Colombia Will Extradite Drug Kingpin to Venezuela Instead of U.S., The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clinched a major diplomatic victory over the U.S. after the Colombian government confirmed that it will extradite Walid Makled to Caracas instead of the U.S. The White House has tagged Mr. Makled, a Venezuelan national now being held in a jailhouse near Bogota, one of the world’s top drug lords. The decision, announced Wednesday by Colombian Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, could represent a major setback for Washington’s anti-narcotics efforts in the region since U.S. officials are likely to have limited access to a treasure trove of information on suspected drug-running networks in Venezuela.

Venezuela accused of becoming ‘narco state’, Financial Times

Mr. Makled, who claimed in a prison interview last week that he once had 40 Venezuelan army generals in his pay, has said he will reveal “all he knows” if extradited to the US. That would help “dismantle some of the most important drug networks in the world today”, according to Richard Lugar, a Republican senator. Mr. Chávez has, meanwhile, accused the US of wanting to use Mr. Makled to take Venezuela to an international criminal court.