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Chavez angers Colombia
12/01/2008 10:03 - (SA)
Caracas - President Hugo Chavez, emboldened by his success in a hostage release, has taken the side of leftist rebels in neighbouring Colombia's decades-old civil conflict, calling the fighters "true armies" and asking the international community to stop classifying them as terrorists.
Colombia's US-allied government, which has made eradicating the rebels a top priority, reacted with outrage. Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said Colombia "cannot accept a request of this sort".
Chavez's defence of the rebels thrust him deeper than ever into the thicket of Colombia's conflict. He said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army "are not terrorists, they are true armies ... They must be recognised". Mostly peasants
The FARC is the hemisphere's most potent rebel force with 14 000 fighters, mostly peasants, it says are fighting for a more equal distribution of wealth. It funds itself largely through drug trafficking and - the government says - holds about 750 people hostage, either for ransom or political leverage.
"They are insurgent forces that have a political project," Chavez said on Friday in a marathon speech to lawmakers. "I say it even though someone could be bothered by it."
Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, a spokesperson for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, later read a statement in which he did not mention Chavez by name. He said FARC fighters were terrorists because they "kidnap, place bombs indiscriminately, recruit and murder children, murder pregnant women and the elderly and use anti-personnel mines that have left thousands of innocent victims".
"All that they've produced for the country is forced displacement, pain, unemployment and poverty," he said. Hugs and kisses
The European Union joined Washington in 2002 in classifying the FARC as terrorist, outlawing all economic support to the group. Colombia's armed forces also have been criticised internationally for human rights violations.
Thursday's release of two women held for about six years was a nod to Chavez's intervention. After tearful reunions with relatives waiting in Caracas, the Colombians Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez greeted Chavez with hugs and kisses.
Chavez said he hoped the success could be repeated for former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and dozens of other captives, including three Americans. But he said that largely depends on Uribe.
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