Colombian militia camp found inside Venezuela

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Thaindian News

Caracas, April 30 (IANS) Venezuela’s armed forces have discovered a camp set up by a Colombian militia group inside the country and arrested four of its members, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Wednesday quoting a top military official. The secret camp of the outlawed United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, was found last Thursday in the western state of Zulia near the Colombian borders, General Jesus Gonzalez said, adding that the camp was set up to train the right-wing paramilitaries.

He also said that several documents, 19 uniforms with AUC insignia, weapons, munitions, explosives and 80 kgs of cocaine were found from the site.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had earlier warned about the infiltration of Colombian paramilitaries in his country, as part of a plan to destabilise his leftist government.

The AUC, blamed by the UN for 80 percent of the war crimes in Colombia’s internal conflict, demobilized more than 31,000 of its fighters between 2003 and 2006 amid negotiations with the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.



Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/colombian-militia-camp-found-inside-venezuela_10043707.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I love the smell of Napalm in the morning....

some people are DESPERATE for a war

[EFerrari]

2. Our tax dollar at work! Go, USA!

[Judi Lynn]

3. Paramilitaries (euphemism used instead of the accurate "death squads") have worked WITH Colombia's

military in numerous massacres in Colombia.

In one report of a massacre I recently posted, regular Colombian military took off their uniforms, donned the paramilitaries' clothes and helped them in the massacre of a village.

Other times the Colombian military has closed off towns so the people couldn't escape, and the death squads went in and slaughtered them. Chain saws have often been used to cut up people still living.

What's so irritating about this news coming right now is because Uribe threw such a goddawful shrieking fit when Ecuador and Venezuela didn't bend over for him when he invaded Ecuador, and sent military to their own borders to protect themselves. Apparently they didn't get there soon enough, did they?

Looks as if the a-holes were already inside Venezuela.

Thank god they caught this filthy group.

Thanks, AlphaCentauri.

[struggle4progress]

4. Colombia seems to pose a major security problem for the region

[Judi Lynn]

5. The last time they caught a LARGE number of paramilitaries in Venezuela,

living at the ranch of Roberto Alonso, violent militant Cuban-Venezuelan anti-Chavez activist, next door to Gustavo Cisneros, media mogul, coup plotter, friend of _{George H. W. Bush,} (whom he met for a vacation at the resort owned by Cuban "exile" sugar barons, Alfie and Pepe Fanjul, in the Dominican Repaublic, immediately AFTER the coup was overturned by the people of Venezuela) Hugo Chavez actually turned them loose, giving a public speech and telling Venezuelans something like the men weren't the ones who concocted the plot, and he was letting them go home.

Here's a small look at the material which was published at the time:

Venezuela's Chavez pardons Colombian prisoners accused in plot
The Associated Press
Published: August 30, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez on Thursday pardoned dozens of Colombians imprisoned in Venezuela on charges of involvement in an alleged 2004 plot against his government.

The order to free the 41 prisoners took effect with its publication in the government's official gazette that dismissed their convictions on charges of military rebellion.

Chavez announced his decision to free the prisoners last week as a goodwill gesture as he tries to help broker an unrelated prisoner and hostage exchange between Colombia's government and leftist rebels.

In May 2004, 118 Colombians were arrested at a ranch outside Caracas. Authorities said they were wearing Venezuelan military uniforms and were suspected of belonging to paramilitary group that was plotting to create chaos in the country and assassinate Chavez.

More:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/30/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Colombia.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Venezuela frees Colombian prisoners
By Howard Yanes, Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela — More than two dozen Colombian prisoners arrested three years ago in an alleged plot against President Hugo Chavez were freed Saturday in a goodwill gesture he hopes will help facilitate a prisoner exchange in Colombia.
The 27 Colombians who boarded a bus to return home after being pardoned by Chavez were among more than 100 men arrested three years ago on accusations of plotting to stage a rebellion and assassinate the Venezuelan leader.

In a speech in Caracas, Chavez said he expects to meet soon with a high-ranking representative of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to arrange a possible exchange of hundreds imprisoned guerrillas for about 45 prominent rebel-held hostages.

Among those being held by the rebels are three U.S. defense contractors and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-09-01-434845792_x.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You'd never know this had ever happened by recalling Colombia's President's recent behavior!

Uribe admits anti-Chavez plot planned in Colombia


AFP, SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA
Monday, Dec 19, 2005, Page 7

Venezuelan former soldiers plotted against President Hugo Chavez's government at a Colombian military building, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said.

Uribe made the stunning disclosure on Saturday at the Caribbean resort town of Santa Marta where he is meeting with Chavez, and after analyzing documents furnished by Chavez.

"The Venezuelan soldiers who are in Bogota went to a building to meet with members of the Colombian military. President Chavez gave us these documents ... we analyzed them and this morning I said to President Chavez: `I must tell you the truth: this is a building of Colombia's public forces,'" he said.

Uribe said that intelligence efforts against the Venezuelan government are conducted in the building, and took full responsibility for the affair.

The two presidents met for six hours amid a climate of unusual goodwill on Saturday to discuss the purported Bogota-based conspiracy against the Venezuelan president, which Chavez first disclosed to his Colombian counterpart during a meeting in Venezuela on Nov. 24.

Seven Venezuelans involved in a 48-hour coup against Chavez in April 2002 have been linked to the new plot. Businessman Pedro Carmona, leader of the failed military-civilian coup, enjoys political asylum in Colombia, where he is working as a university professor.

Uribe refused asylum to six Venezuelan soldiers involved in the coup but gave them permission to live in Colombia while they look for safe haven in another country.

He said on Saturday that he takes responsibility for the events.

More:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/12/19/2003285082

[freedomnorth]

9. Same could be said of US. nt.

[struggle4progress]

11. And, oddly enough, Colombia is the hemisphere's largest recipient of US military "aid"

[Andrushka]

6. Nice catch

"several documents, 19 uniforms with AUC insignia, weapons, munitions, explosives and 80 kgs of cocaine were found from the site."

Holy schmokes. Sounds like they got them a fine group of upstanding Colombians there.

No magic laptops, either (which lends to the truthfulness of this right there - if there was any mention of "laptop" or "blueprint" I would have immediately called "bullshit")

[Judi Lynn]

8. What ARE the chances Uribe is going to go wild, and bomb them, as he did the FARCs in Ecuador?

NO WAY! They're there to overthrow Chavez. Right on schedule. They've already had practise runs. Uribe already apologized for one of those huge runs in which they caught over 100 death squad guys, all ready to do Chavez in.

I guess Uribe thinks if they do this one "right," he'll be spared the embarrassment of having to apologize to Chavez, since Chavez would be dead.

[struggle4progress]

12. What? And risk killing some Colombian legislators?

[judasdisney]

7. Excellent story -- thanks... Get 'em Hugo!

[Judi Lynn]

10. Venezuelan Military Destroys Colombian Paramilitary Camp in Venezuela

Venezuelan Military Destroys Colombian Paramilitary Camp in Venezuela
April 29th 2008, by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, April 29, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - The National Armed Forces of Venezuela has detected and destroyed a camp presumably used by Colombian paramilitaries only 500 meters from Venezuela's border with Colombia in the municipality of Catatumbo, in the state of Zulia.

The camp was discovered on April 24 by military personnel during a routine patrol and reconnaissance as part of Operation Sierra 2008. The operation was initiated on April 17 and is aimed at combating the cultivation of illicit drugs and the cocaine trade from Colombia.

At the premises military fatigues, fire arms, ammunition, explosives, communications technology, camping equipment and armbands from the Auto-defence Units of Colombia (AUC), were found.

The discovery includes dorm-like installations and obstacles used to train paramilitary troops in over 236 sq. miles around the camp consisting of tunnels and obstacle courses and 79 kg of cocaine.

More:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/3400

[ck4829]

13. Good work Venezuela!

[MinM]

14. Can you say -- Coup d'état?

CB (CheneyBush) Style :kick:

[Judi Lynn]

15. Some note from the BBC on the death squads you might want to think over:

Anti-Uribe Protest
May, 01 2008 By James Brittain



Massive demonstration on March 6 in Bogotá, Colombia—photo from colombia.indymedia.org

~snip~

While a consistent disdain toward the Colombian state continues to resonate throughout various Latin American countries, so, too, has opposition within Colombia. On Thursday, March 6, Colombians from all walks of life not only protested the illegal incursion of their country's forces on Ecuador's territory, but denounced human rights abuses against sectors of the Colombian populace by the Uribe and Santos administration and their links to the Colombian paramilitary.

Promoted by the National Movement of Victims of State-Sponsored Crimes (Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado or MOVICE) and various social justice-based organizations, March 6 was a day of remembrance, homage, and protest. For months, human rights groups, sectors of organized labor, and politically conscious civilians worked together to create a domestic and international response to the atrocities. Journalist Luis Alberto Matta pointed out that 270 cities, medium sized towns, and large villages within Colombia had connected with each other. Outside Colombia, an estimated 140 cities in 23 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and Latin America coordinated events outside Colombian embassies in conjunction with protest.

After months of preparation and days of travel, Colombians peacefully demonstrated their opposition. Radio reporter Manuel Rueda described how hundreds of thousands of people came to condemn the state. The BBC documented that over 40,000 Colombians surrounded the Casa de Nariño and the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá to indirectly confront paramilitaries who had forced communities and individuals to vote for the Uribe administration or face torture and death; who publicly raped and molested children, women, and men and executed and/or mutilated civilians with chainsaws; forced live castrations; cut off the limbs of non-combatants; murdered the mentally and physically challenged; suffocated children in front of their parents; committed acts of cannibalism; and decapitated suspected guerrillas and subsequently used their skulls during soccer games with the Colombian army.

In the past year just under 80 governors, mayors, and Congressional politicians have been alleged or found guilty of having direct connections, meetings, and/or contracts with the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Auto- defensas Unidas de Colombia or AUC). The AUC has targeted, threatened, and disappeared trade unionists and various community organizers. Included in the list of those linked to the AUC are Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón, his cousin Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, President Uribe's brother Santiago, and their cousin, former Senator Mario Uribe.

More:
http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/17484