US finds possible Venezuela-FARC ties 'disturbing'

US finds possible Venezuela-FARC ties 'disturbing'

March 13, 2008
Caribbean Net News

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters): The United States said on Wednesday new data about possible links between Venezuela and Colombia's FARC guerrilla group is disturbing but Washington is far from a decision to put Caracas on a terrorism blacklist.

Colombia on March 1 conducted a raid in Ecuador that killed top FARC leader Raul Reyes, sparking a crisis that was defused on Friday with a Colombian apology and promise not to take similar action if its neighbors cooperated in fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The Colombian government seized several computers as a result of the raid, saying they yielded data that proved leftist-led Ecuador and Venezuela were aiding the FARC, which the United States classifies as a terrorist group.

US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon.
AFP PHOTO

US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon said the United States was carefully studying the information on the computers as well as another one belonging to FARC leader Ivan Rios, who was killed by his own bodyguard last week.

"The information that has emerged so far is worrisome. I would even call it disturbing because it does seem to indicate a degree of dialogue and discussion between members of the government of Venezuela and the FARC that have to be explained," he told reporters. "But ... we are very early in the process and it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions."

Shannon would not be drawn on whether the information was strong enough to prompt the United States to place Venezuela on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Five countries are now on the list: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

"Declaring somebody a state sponsor of terrorism is a big step. It's a serious step. And it's one that we would only take after the very careful consideration of all the evidence," said Shannon, the top US diplomat for Latin America.

Asked if the information was sufficient to build a case to put Venezuela on the list, Shannon said: "We don't know yet."

"We have to take a close look at all of the material that is in the hard drives of Raul Reyes and Ivan Rios and that's going to take a while. There is a lot of material in it," he told reporters during a briefing on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Brazil and Chile this week.

Asked by lawmakers whether she believed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez funded the FARC, Rice did not directly answer the question.

But she said Chavez had tried publicly to get the guerrilla group removed from terrorism lists of other countries. "(Chavez was) saying that they shouldn't be considered terrorists when in fact they're considered terrorists because they engage in kidnappings and bombings," she said.

Being on the state sponsors of terrorism list imposes four main sets of US sanctions: a ban on US arms-related sales; export controls on so-called "dual-use" items with civilian and military applications; bans on certain economic aid, and financial sanctions, including US opposition to World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans to the country.

It is not clear whether it would disrupt US purchases of Venezuelan oil. Shannon said he did not know whether US companies could be barred from importing Venezuelan oil if Venezuela were eventually added to the list.

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