Venezuela, Spain boost anti-terror ties after row

AFP

CARACAS — Spain and Venezuela vowed Saturday to deepen their anti-terror ties as they sought to dampen a row over Caracas's alleged involvement in plots with guerillas to assassinate the Colombian president.

"Spain and Venezuela declare their determination to deepen their friendly and fruitful relationship, based on broad cooperation in all areas, including counterterrorism," the countries said in a joint statement issued in Caracas and Madrid.

Diplomats said both governments were eager to move beyond tensions that have flared since Monday, when a Spanish judge charged the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia's FARC rebels plotted to kill Colombian politicians in Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe, with Venezuelan "governmental cooperation."

"The joint text stresses that we are two friendly governments that cooperate and share values. We are not just pretending to be friends and Venezuela is not negligent when it comes to respect these values," a Venezuelan diplomat source told AFP.

In the statement, the countries "reaffirmed their strongest condemnation of terrorism in all its forms" and "reiterated their commitment to pursue judicial and police cooperation effectively."

For its part, Caracas said it "rejects and denies information about its alleged collaboration with the terrorist organization ETA, whose work it rejects outright."

In 1989, 11 ETA members came to Venezuela under an agreement between Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez and Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez -- both socialists -- and were granted political refugee status.

Current Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has described his country's relations with Spain as "very good" and said he did not want to return to the tensions that marred bilateral relations after a spat between the bombastic leader and Spanish King Juan Carlos in 2008.

Venezuela froze diplomatic relations with Bogota in July 2009 after Bogota announced an agreement with Washington granting the US military access to seven bases in its territory, which Caracas viewed as a threat.

source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iO9ZSPNiKzmT91TraD4Sw...

About Venezuela

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, (2005 est. pop. 25,375,000), 352,143 sq mi (912,050 sq km), N South America. Venezuela has a coastline 1,750 mi (2,816 km) long on the Caribbean Sea in the north. It is bordered on the south by Brazil, on the west and southwest by Colombia, and on the east by Guyana. Dependencies include Margarita Island, Tortuga Island, and many smaller island groups in the Caribbean. The capital and largest city is Caracas. Its President is Hugo Chavez Frias.

About US Policy

The United States traditionally has had close relations with Venezuela, the fourth major supplier of foreign oil to the United States, but there has been friction in relations with the Chávez government. U.S. officials have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s military arms purchases, his relations with such countries as Cuba and Iran, his efforts to export his brand of populism to other Latin American countries, and concerns about the state of democracy. Declining cooperation on antidrug and anti-terrorism efforts has also been a U.S. concern. Since 2005, President Bush has annually designated Venezuela as a country that has failed demonstrably to adhere to its obligations under international narcotics agreements, and since 2006, the Department of State prohibited the sale of defense articles and services to Venezuela because of its lack of cooperation on anti-terrorism efforts.

- Report of The Congressional Research Service, January 11, 2008