Chavez and FARC

Washington Post:

At a May presidential summit in Brazil, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela sought out his Colombian counterpart and regional rival, Álvaro Uribe. The two had not spoken in months. But Chávez got right to the point, telling Uribe: "We haven't been giving money to the FARC," referring to the rebel group that has operated in Colombia since the 1960s.

...

Chávez, a self-styled revolutionary, is now seeking to distance his government from the FARC and secure a role for himself in future efforts to free the more than 700 hostages who remain in guerrilla hands.

...

Teodoro Petkoff, a former guerrilla in Venezuela and a sharp critic of Chávez's government, said that if the Venezuelan president makes friendly gestures, such as expelling guerrillas from Venezuelan soil, he could be welcomed back into the process....

"He could be useful in a process, if the Colombian government and the FARC enter into talks, but it would have to be a different Chávez," said Petkoff, editor of Tal Cual, a Caracas newspaper. "Chávez could be considered a factor, but under condition that he not use this for his personal gain, that he cut relations with the FARC, that he order guerrillas be attacked."

Senior Colombian government officials said they want Chávez to expel two top FARC commanders, who, according to Colombia's intelligence service, operate freely in Venezuela. They are Luciano Marín, alias Ivan Márquez, and Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko.

...

... Many Venezuelans worry about Chávez's public sympathy for an unpopular rebel group as crime and economic concerns mount in their country. Though Chávez retains the support of a majority of Venezuelans, polls show that more than 70 percent of the country rejects the FARC and the government's position toward the group.

...

Declassified U.S. cables and Pentagon intelligence reports show that as far back as the late 1980s, Colombian and U.S. officials were reporting that Chávez and people close to him were meeting with Colombian rebels. They discussed, among other things, how the guerrillas wanted to create a semiautonomous region along the border between the two countries, according to the documents, obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University and shared with The Washington Post.

...

There seems to be a distancing from FARC as they appear to be losing. Even Castro has attacked their hostage operations. The article does not address the Venezuela facilitation of FARC drug shipments through Venezuela to Africa and Europe. That is a form of indirect aid to the commie narco terrorist that Chavez has not addressed.

Indeed, he may be profiting from such traffic or some in his governement are.

I think Chavez is also concerned about the documents on the FARC computer leading to a court case against him. Those documents have certainly given Uribe an upper hand.