Media wants to see war of words between Chavez Frias and Uribe

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

A Colombian mainstream newspaper has published a story, alleging that top Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander, German Briceno Suarez, known as “Grannobles,” slipped into Venezuela late last year to avoid immediate capture by the Colombian Army.

According to El Tiempo, people working in Cucuta courts where the guerrillas are said to have placed spies tipped Briceno Suarez off about his imminent arrest. Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia, Carlos Rodolfo Santiago says the story is just another part of a current Colombian and Venezuelan media blitz to force the Venezuelan government’s hand and he asks why wasn’t the Venezuelan government advised beforehand when it was discovered that Briceno Suarez had passed from Arauca to Apure.

“It’s the third media breaking news on alleged guerrilla presence in Venezuela … top FARC commander, Raul Reyes was reported undergoing a prostate operation in Rubio, Tachira … then they said a 400-man FARC camp had been discovered in Zulia.”

Santiago claims that the media wants to see a war of words between President Chavez Frias and Alvaro Uribe … “it’s not going to happen … dialogue and relations between the two men are very transparent and direct.”