World
Institutional
links
Welcome back on
26 -29 August,
ONS 2008
Bridging
the energy gap
is ONS 2006 theme,
from 22-25 August,
in Stavanger, Norway
Petroleumworld
Business
Partners:
Centre for
Global Energy
Studies
  |
Chavez sought Belarus help for Colombian rebels: report
MADRID
Petroleumworld.com, May 12, 2008Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez allegedly tried to arm Colombian rebels with help from Belarus, the El Pais newspaper reported Saturday, citing documents from the computer of a slain rebel leader.
The Spanish daily quoted a February 8 e-mail from Ivan Marquez, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), saying Chavez had considered with Belarussian authorities the possibility of providing weapons to FARC.
The e-mail was alleged to have been found in the seized computer of FARC second-in-command Raul Reyes, who was killed in March, El Pais said.
The partially coded message mentioned someone identified only as "friend of Belarus," who El Pais identified as Victor Sheiman, secretary of the Belarus Security Council and a close associate of Alexander Lukashenko, the hardline president of the former Soviet republic.
El Pais added that other possible arms sources for FARC, particularly ground-to-air missiles, were mentioned in computer messages, including contacts with "Australian traffickers".
The left-of-centre newspaper reported last December that Venezuela had become a safe haven for FARC, harbouring several rebel camps on its territory. Venezuela has denied this.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that US intelligence officials believe that seized computer files showing strong ties between Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Colombian rebels are authentic.
The files describe meetings between guerrilla commanders and top Venezuelan officials including Chavez himself, the newspaper said, based on its review of more than 100 documents allegedly seized from Reyes' computer.
Venezuela insists the files, seized by Colombia after it bombed a rebel camp in Ecuador, killing Reyes, are fakes.
"We don't recognize the validity of any of these documents," Venezuelan ambassador to the United States Bernardo Alvarez told the Journal Wednesday.
"They are false, and an attempt to discredit the Venezuelan government."
Story from AFP
AFP 10 1424 GMT 05 08
Copyright© 2008 respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.
We welcome the use of Petroleumworld™ stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors.
Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best Viewed with IE 5.01+
Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels