General Baduel denies FARC presence in Venezuela

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Senior Venezuelan Armed Forces (FAN) leader General Raul Baduel has denied that there are members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) leadership currently on Venezuelan soil as has recently been claimed in newspaper reports.

Baduel insists that the Venezuelan army always takes all the action necessary to prevent violent groups from Colombia entering into Venezuela and that the units currently guarding the border have not reported any incursions of the kind being reported.

However, the general also said that every day there is a large flow of people coming into Venezuela from Colombia and that they are permitted to do so providing their documentation is in order.

The policy of the Venezuelan government is not to allow guerilla groups into Venezuela, because he said, it is a Colombian problem that should be dealt with by them.