Venezuela recalls ambassador to
Colombia
Venezuelan Vice President
Jose Rangel announced Thursday
that Venezuela has called back
its ambassador to Colombia as
Colombia admitted bribing
Venezuelan security officials to
capture a Colombian guerrilla
leader.
"For the moment (Venezuelan)
ambassador (to Colombia) General
Carlos Ramirez was called back,"
Rangel said, adding the foreign
minister and President Hugo
Chavez is considering issuing a
formal complaint against Bogota.
Rangel said that eight members
of the military and three police
agents were arrested in the
border area with Colombia for
their presumed participation in
the kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda,
the so-called "foreign minister"
of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombian Defense Minister Jorge
Alberto Uribe said Wednesday
that Granda was captured in
Caracas last December and
delivered to police in the
Colombian border city of Cucuta
for a reward.
Uribe was taking part in "a
crime that could have
international implications. The
rules are clear, in case there
exists a person sought by the
justice of a country,
extradition is the adequate
procedure," Rangel said.
"Members of the Venezuelan armed
forces have been bribed. How
would the Colombian government
react if Venezuelans bribed
their police agents?" he said.
FARC is one of the largest rebel
groups in Colombia and has at
least 17,000 combatants.
Chile judge requests
authorization to probe
Pinochet's foreign accounts
The judge in charge of
investigation into former
Chilean leader Augusto
Pinochet's foreign accounts
requested authorization Thursday
to investigate several foreign
banks, local media reported.
Judge Sergio Munoz made the
request to the Supreme Court. If
itis approved, the Chilean
Foreign Ministry will officially
ask several banks in the United
States, Britain, Bahamas,
Switzerland, Spain and
Luxembourg to provide
information on Pinochet's
accounts.
Munoz started his investigation
five months ago after a US
Senate committee revealed
Pinochet has several secret
accounts of 8 million US dollars
at Washington's Riggs Banks.
Munoz has found Pinochet's
fortune may be more than 16
million dollars.
Pinochet took power in 1973
after a military coup toppling
elected President Salvador
Allende, and ruled until 1990.
The 89-year-old former strongman
also faces human rights charges.
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Colombian guerrillas to
participate in elections
The guerrillas of the
National Liberation Army (ELN)
of Colombia announced
Thursday they will
participate in the coming
elections but not join the
FARC movement.
A spokesman of the ELN
Milton Hernandez said the
organization has decided to
"participate in the
elections" but did not join
the "Bolivarian Movement", a
unitarian project of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC).
The ELN has decided to join
the left-wing coalition of
the independent opposition
parties, the Polo
Democratic, the Social
Fronty Politic and the
Alternative Democracy,
Hernandez said.
He also said the ELN opposes
the re-election of President
Alvaro Uribe, according to
the Web-site of independent
organization " Rebelion-org".
The ELN, with 4,500 members,
is the second largest rebel
group in Colombia, after the
FARC.
Colombia has been plagued by
a four-decade civil war, in
which leftist rebels,
far-right paramilitaries and
government troops fight each
other, killing about 3,500
people a year.
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