Chavez trying to arm narco terrorist FARC

Washington Times:

U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday that members of the Venezuelan government have tried to "facilitate the shipment of arms" to Colombian rebels.

The charge follows a published report that documents from a captured laptop computer show Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed to help arm the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The documents appear to be authentic, U.S. intelligence officials said.

"One of the chief concerns is that the documents reveal closer links between Chavez and the FARC than had been previously been known," a U.S. intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information. "It's clear that certain Venezuelan officials have tried to facilitate the shipment of arms to the FARC," the official said.

Venezuelan officials maintain that Bogota is manipulating the truth.

"The whole thing is like a movie. Fiction is fiction, reality is reality," Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, said yesterday, according to the Associated Press.

A report in the Wall Street Journal about the ties between Mr. Chavez and the FARC rocked oil markets yesterday. Prices spiked on fears that the United States would respond by imposing sanctions on Venezuela, one of its biggest oil suppliers.

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The newspaper said the files recovered from the computer indicate Venezuela has offered to arm the rebels, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles, and offered FARC the use of a port to receive arms shipments.

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"The documents also reveal that the Venezuelan government has attempted to assist the FARC in acquiring arms and munitions," the official said. "The extent of that flow of arms is unclear at this time, but it's entirely possible some of those shipments have made their way to the FARC."

The documents reveal that the connection to FARC goes beyond Mr. Chavez and that there has "been some serious thought on the part of the Venezuelan government," the U.S. intelligence official said. The official declined to identify any other Venezuelan officials who might be involved.

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Numerous sources and U.S. intelligence officials said Colombian leftist rebels are interested in purchasing sophisticated weaponry such as anti-aircraft guns, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles and even larger weapons.

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Chavez is an enemy and should be dealt with as such. He is facilitating aggression against a democratic ally of the US. He is also facilitating the destruction of democracy throughout South America while destroying his own countries agriculture and markets.

His threats to halt sales of his oil to the US are pretty empty since we are the only market that can handle his heavy crude. Oil traders should keep that in mind when they react to his bellicosity.

Colby Cash notes, "In a particularly absurd twist, FARC chose to disavow the existence of high-level contacts with the Venezuelan government … by issuing a communiqué on the website of the Venezuelan information ministry...."