How Hugo Chavez Courted FARC [View All]

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Source: SPIEGEL

They called him "Angel." He was the highest-ranking outside contact for the Colombian guerrilla organization FARC. More and more details are now emerging that demonstrate the close relationship between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the jungle terrorists.

Experts estimate that at least one-third of all cocaine from Colombia is smuggled to Europe and the United States through Venezuela, with the authorities apparently turning a blind eye to the activities. According to government sources in Bogota, Colombian soldiers at a military base on the border observe dozens of planes carrying drug transports in neighboring Venezuela on a daily basis.

In addition, Chavez apparently provided thousands of Colombians, including many of the guerillas, with Venezuelan papers. Intelligence agencies fear that senior members of FARC have also traveled to Germany using Venezuelan passports -- tourists from Chavez's Venezuela are given more lax treatment when entering the country than Colombians.

Chavez also apparently helped the FARC rebels obtain weapons by putting them in touch with two Australian arms dealers. His intelligence agents promised FARC that they would get them parts to build surface-to-air missiles. In an e-mail to Reyes on March 1, 2007, FARC commander Timochenko wrote that the Venezuelans would "guarantee travel for one of our men to the Middle East, so that he can take a course in the use of the missiles." The purchase of complete weapons systems, Timochenko wrote, is "very complicated, because of the existing inspections."

Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,557736,00.html

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Good picture of Raul Reyes working with his now infamous laptop