Vice President Rangel gives as good as he gets in border battles spin blitz

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

In the run up to next week's April 23 meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velaz, the tit-for-tat debate on each country's armies' links with paramilitaries/guerrillas has been heating up. 

Venezuela's Executive Vice President, Jose Vicente Rangel has been giving as good as he's been getting, accusing top Colombian military officers of supporting the Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) . 

Colombian Foreign Minister, Carolina Banco replied sending a diplomatic note of protest to her Venezuelan counterpart, Roy Chaderton Matos, rejecting Rangel's declarations. 

The Colombian Military High Command has announced that it will study Rangel's allegations of presumed links between the Colombian army and the right-wing paramilitaries. 

Former Colombian military officers say they feel offended by the remarks and that it is public knowledge that President Hugo Chavez Frias sympathizes with left-wing Colombian guerrillas. 

Colombian Senator Enrique Gomez calls President Chavez Frias an "aspiring dictator, who should be brought before the United Nations (UN)  and Organization of American States (OAS) for promoting aggression against Colombia."

Jose Vicente Rangel insists that the Colombian Army has turned a blind eye to the presence of paramilitaries on its side of the border and wants the matter to be on the agenda when the two Presidents meet. "There are parts of the border where the paramilitaries are in full control." 

Two weeks ago, Colombian Armed Forces chief, General Jorge Enrique Mora accused the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) of using chemicals to cause more damage to government troops. 

In an obvious reference to accusations the USA has raised against Iraq and Syria, the Colombian Army is milking the international moment for all it is worth to spin the story that the Venezuelan government is fully supporting the guerrillas and secondly, the latter are using weapons of mass destruction, albeit on a minor scale. 

The AUC has been adding oil to the fire accusing the Venezuelan Army and Air Force (FAV) of joint exercises with FARC flying over Colombian territory and strafing border villages. It claims that overflights have been continuous in the last months ... "more than 600 guerrillas were transported from Arauca to Catatumbo in full combat against the AUC."

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