MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s High Court yesterday accused Venezuela’s left-wing government of helping Basque ETA rebels and Colombian FARC guerrillas plot possible attacks on Spanish soil against targets including Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
A detailed ruling describes how the Venezuelan government facilitated contacts between the illegal armed groups, which included FARC requests for logistical help in case they tried to assassinate Colombian officials visiting Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe and former President Andres Pastrana.
In 2007, ETA rebels were also given a Venezuelan military escort to a site in the jungle where whey gave a course on handling explosives to visiting FARC guerrillas, the document said.
“This shows Venezuelan government cooperation in the illicit collaboration between FARC and ETA,” said High Court Judge Eloy Velasco in a ruling in which he issued arrest warrants for 13 FARC and ETA suspects, including one Spanish-born employee of the Venezuelan government.
The Venezuelan embassy in Madrid had no immediate comment on the ruling.
A key facilitator for the contacts was suspected ETA member Arturo Cubillas, who arrived in Venezuela in 1989 and has, Judge Velasco said, worked for Venezuela’s Socialist government since President Hugo Chavez won elections in 1999.
Cubillas was included in the list of those wanted for arrest.
The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) have killed thousands of people in a decades-old war to set up a Socialist state in Colombia, while ETA have killed more than 850 fighting for independence for the Basque Country.
Colombia has accused the Chavez government of assisting the FARC, which is also believed to have had training from former members of the Irish Republican Army on bomb-making techniques.
