Submit your comments on this article | |||
Caribbean-Latin America | |||
Colombia says ammunition delivery to FARC thwarted | |||
2008-06-08 | |||
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- A Venezuelan national guard sergeant will face "the full weight of national law" after being arrested in a remote border area, allegedly on his way to deliver 40,000 rounds of ammunition to Colombia's largest rebel group, this country's foreign minister said Saturday. Sgt. Manuel Agudo Escalona, was arrested Friday with another Venezuelan and two Colombians in the eastern jungle state of Vichada with ammunition for AK-47 rifles destined for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the government said.
As of Saturday evening, Venezuela had made no official comment on the arrests. The arms case is a potential source of additional tension between the two countries, led by ideologically opposed presidents. Colombia, whose president is a conservative strongly backed by the United States, has charged that leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has given "systematic and intentional help" to the FARC as it carried out attacks on Colombia from Venezuelan territory, calling that support a "crime against humanity." In March, electronic files found in the laptops of a slain FARC commander included messages that the Colombian government says indicated that Venezuela promised to supply the rebels with arms and a haven as well as political and logistical support. The content of the messages has not been corroborated, and Chavez later told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at a meeting in Brazil that he has not given "the tiniest bullet" to the rebels.
The four suspects were brought to Bogota on Saturday for questioning. Araujo said the four would suffer "the full weight of Colombian law." Iguaron's office said the capture was made possible by the arrest Thursday of a FARC operative, Hernando Gamboa Sanchez, believed to be the chief of security for a top-ranking rebel commander.
In another seizure three days later, the Colombian army in Cali found 607 Chinese rifles that allegedly were intended to be delivered to a drug gang called the Rastrojos. In April, Colombian forces uncovered a FARC arsenal near the Ecuadorean border that included 8,000 land mines and 2 tons of bomb-making materials. | |||
Posted by:Steve White |