Nieves death was over land and booty, Giusti vows to continue campaign

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

El Universal journalist Roberto Giusti says Napoleon Bravo's TV program has proved that Patria Para Todos (PPT) accusations against him are false. "Jorge Nieves' death in Guasdualito was a territorial and booty dispute and between kidnapping and extortion mafia operating in the zone.  According to Giusti, a video showed "24-hours" program reporter reading Nieves a communique from an alleged group of institutional military officers condemning him to death and in the background graffiti against his life on village walls.

Giusti, who has received support from the International Federation of Journalists' regional office, has been spearheading a campaign highlighting the presence of left-wing Colombian guerrillas in Venezuelan border badlands and attempting to link President Hugo Chavez Frias to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The journalist now claims that mountains regions of Tachira in SW Venezuela and Perija in NW Venezuela have become "zones of distension" similar to the one that existed in Caguan (Colombia) during negotiations between the FARC and former Colombian President, Andres Pastrana.

From his latest piece replying to PPT, it seems clear that Giusti was responsible for publishing an unsigned piece in El Universal about guerrillas, paramilitaries, narco-traffickers and common criminals swamping border areas while the Venezuelan military turn a blind eye or are accomplices. "Neither the President nor the Vice President, nor the Defense Minister has batted an eyelid, hoping it will blow away ... they can't deny it."