The Colombian civil war has spilled into Venezuela for decades

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 09, 2003 By: Dawn Gable

Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 16:04:08 +0000 From: Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: FARC in Venezuela

Dear Editor: I don't quite understand why there is so much talk about the FARC on the Venezuelan border ... as if it were a new situation and as if it is somehow Chavez' fault.

The Colombian civil war has spilled into Venezuela for decades ... the border areas have always been risky ... and Venezuela has not been the principle blame.

In 1999, a fellow University of California classmate of mine, Terence Freitas, was kidnapped and killed by the FARC. His body was found on the Venezuelan side of the border. When I first arrived in Venezuela, I lived in Maracaibo and my ideas for going up to the mountains to look for raptors was shot down by my superiors "because there are no distinct borders up there ... the guerrillas and paramilitaries wander freely in the mountains."

At La Universidad de Zulia, my Guajira (native indian) friend wanted me to visit her family's village in these mountains some weekend, but I was strongly advised against it because it was too close to the border.

At one point, I needed to get my visa renewed ... I was going to cross into Colombia at the crossing in Tachira state. I could not get a Venezuelan to go with me. Of course, my friends would not be able to cross for lack of visa, but I asked several of them to make the trip with me and wait for me on the Venezuelan side of the border. My housemate who had traveled with me on other trips all around Venezuela refused to go ... her mother refused to fund her travel ... she was terrified of us being near the border ... she instead paid for us to fly to Aruba (a very expensive alternative) just so that I wouldn't cross into Colombia alone.

This kind of fear did not suddenly appear in the last few years.

Venezuelans have been afraid of Colombian incursions for a long long time ... and they should be, because it has happened frequently over a long, long time ... it has translated into a deep-rooted, ugly racism within Venezuela against Colombians in general.

Implying that Chavez has anything to do with this phenomenon is pure nonsense and is unfounded propaganda.

Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com