Suit claims Chavez gave money to bin Laden

www.heraldtribune.com The Associated Press

The husband of a World Trade Center victim is suing Venezuela for $100 million in damages, claiming its president, Hugo Chavez, sent money to Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the watchdog group Judicial Watch based its allegations on international news reports by a former Chavez pilot who defected to the United States this month.

Chavez routed $1 million to bin Laden, al Qaida and the Taliban through Venezuela's ambassador to India days after the attacks Sept. 11, 2001, said the wrongful-death suit filed at federal court in Miami.

The money was disguised as humanitarian aid to the Taliban, and the ambassador, Walter Marquez, arranged to take the money to Afghanistan, the suit said.

Chavez "cavorts, supports and he hangs around terrorists, and that started before 9-11," said Judicial Watch director Larry Klayman.

A State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that the agency has not seen any credible reports linking Venezuela with al Qaida and is not aware of any such financial support.

Fermin Lares, a spokesman for the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington, said he had no comment and the ambassador was not immediately available to talk.

The lawsuit does not name the victim but said she was a 47-year-old U.S. national who was at a meeting in the center's South Tower when a hijacked United Airlines jet hit the building below her. The suit was filed on behalf of her husband, two teenage daughters and parents.

The Venezuelan government will have 60 days to respond in writing to the lawsuit.

Last modified: January 29. 2003 5:10PM

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