WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Two ranking U.S. Representatives Friday introduced a resolution that would designate Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The request comes in the wake of documented claims that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has funded and offered logistical support for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Connie Mack, R-Fla., are pushing for Venezuela to be placed on the list alongside North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. It remains unclear if the White House or the State Department is considering the move.
Documents recently seized in a Colombian raid of a FARC encampment indicate up to $300 million in payments to the FARC from the Venezuelan government, the Colombian government says.
State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, asked ahead of her meeting with Columbian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos if her department was considering adding Venezuela, said she was monitoring the situation in South America. "We're certainly interested in the information that is emerging and we'll be following the circumstances very closely," she said.
"It is an obligation of every member of the United Nations not to allow their territory to be used in any way to support terrorism and not to support terrorists," Rice said, adding, "And the FARC is a terrorist organization and so there should be no support for them."
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