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BOGOTA - A bomb ripped through an underground carpark at a shopping mall in Cucuta, near Colombia's north-eastern border with Venezuela, killing at least seven people and injuring 68 others.

The blast on Wednesday ignited cars parked nearby and triggered an avalanche of concrete as shoppers tried to flee. Advertisement

It was the first major bomb attack since December in the city, which has been gripped by guerilla warfare for decades.

'We heard a very strong explosion and then flames burst out. Then there was a fire and some parts of the building caved in,' said one survivor.

Police blamed the leftist National Liberation Army but offered no evidence.

The Cuban-inspired group, known by its Spanish initials ELN, is one of several outlawed armies involved in Colombia's drug-fuelled guerilla conflict.

Police Colonel Oscar Gambo said the blast was caused by 'a small bomb placed on top of a vehicle's petrol tank, which spread the fire to other cars'.

Cucuta mayor Manuel Guillermo Mora said seven bodies had been found and 68 people were injured.

More bodies are expected to be found under the rubble.

The guerillas have been moving their attacks steadily to urban centres over the past several years. -- Reuters

www.granma.cu BY MARIA VICTORIA VALDES-RODDA —Granma International staff writer—

WITH the imperative of achieving a new Venezuelan economic model mainly benefiting a large part of the population, President Hugo Chavez has assured that his government "is ready to neutralize any intended terrorist act."

This refers to the recent attacks in the Spanish and Colombian diplomatic offices in Caracas and the failed sabotage of the oil industry in Zulia state. "Terrorism in this country will be defeated in the same way that Bolivarians put an end to last December’s strike," insisted Chavez on his "Alo Presidente" program of Sunday, March 2.

"If we have to repel the terrorists with weapons, then they will be repelled with weapons," he asserted, later stressing that such people will not get their way in Venezuela. In this context, he appealed to the ministries of defense, the interior and justice to "fulfill the sacred duty of protecting the homeland." The Venezuelan leader put the same request to the heads of garrisons.

THE GUILTY WILL BE FOUND

After the late February events that attempted to blame on the Bolivarian revolution of encouraging a climate of chaos and lack of security, Venezuelan Vice president Vicente Rangel recalled that "Venezuela is a country that does not have a history of terrorism like other countries and we are concerned about what precisely happened in the early morning of the 25 (February), because it seems to us that it is a kind of unprecedented macro neo-terrorism."

He announced that the national assembly had approved an anti-terrorist law, and in his own words: "This now obliges us to act in the light of these new circumstances, for what we are going to create is an anti-terrorist mechanism in Venezuela."

The law consists of five points and, according to PL, emphatically and unequivocally rejects the bomb attacks on the Spanish and Colombian facilities. It likewise condemns all forms of terrorism and calls on the relevant authorities to carry out effective investigations that end with the capture and sentencing of the guilty parties.

The body of the new legislation advocates for a national campaign in favor of democratic rights, human rights and peace, aimed at achieving understanding and conciliation among all social sectors.

On February 26, Rangel warned U.S. State Department spokesman Phil Reeker to "be more careful with his rhetoric." He was alluding to the Washington government’s opinions on the embassy attacks that painted Chavez as instigating violence.

UNSUCCESSFUL TERRORIST ACTIONS

In a long explanation on radio and television given during the first weekend in March, Venezuela’s leader accused the opposition of being happy with its attacks on the foreign embassies and of continuing with its tentative attempts to boycott the oil industry.

He denounced how they had sealed the valves of gas ducts en route to the Paraguaná refinery complex and that were it not for timely intervention by the National Guard, the plant’s workers and other security organizations, the plant would have exploded.

Cable dispatches datelined March 3 referred to the fact that 30,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline had been produced at the Paraguaná refinery, which experts mark as an important recovery for the sector.

Ivan Hernandez, the plant’s general manager, assured that in the first 15 days of the current month, the definitive reactivation process of the Paraguaná (the world’s largest refinery complex of its type) would be complete, allowing the country to stop importing gasoline.

PL reports that in his words on Sunday, Chavez referred to the attacks on the Colombian Consulate and the Spanish Office for Ibero American Cooperation, stressing: "There are very few people in the country who are trained in the use of explosives and those who are, we have registered.

"After the failure of the April 2002 coup, some destabilizing sectors are now placing their money on terrorism and also on attempts to paralyze the oil industry," he declared.

Nevertheless, the president affirmed that the opposition has not managed to affect the government’s good relations with friendly countries.

"The leaders of these incidents are trying to endanger links with Spain and Colombia, aiming to create international conflict; but they have not achieved their objectives and, conversely, representatives of these countries have rejected all forms of violence," highlighted Chavez.

REACTIVATING THE ECONOMY

Although the anti-terrorism fight was one of the main aspects analyzed in the president’s speech, he also touched on other topics of national interest, such as reactivating the economy.

Chavez reiterated the people’s will to move towards building a new development model, mentioning a new hydro-electrical center in Caruachi. The project is vital for generating 2.1 million kilowatts in 2005.

"Caruachi is one of the largest and most important projects in the continent and will create great economic and employment benefits for the entire Guayana region," he explained.

During his weekly radio and television program, Venezuela’s leader repeated the project’s outlines: more employment, incomes and work plus a guaranteed better quality of life for Venezuelan people.

"The time has come to transform the economic model, we have to supercede the 20th century economic model, a model that created wealth for a minority and poverty for the majority; a model based on inequality that has created unemployment and poverty; it was the model of exclusion," he emphasized.

Despite his concerns, Chavez said he had no intention of "getting rid of the country’s business class, rather to call on businesspeople to reflect."

"I call on all honest businesspeople in Venezuela to reflect. They cannot let themselves be used by coup plotters, by fascists and terrorists, because the future belongs to all Venezuelan people," concluded Chavez.

story.news.yahoo.com 55 minutes ago By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH, Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia - A bomb set off by suspected rebels ripped through a shopping center in northeastern Colombia on Wednesday, killing seven people, injuring at least 20 and setting the complex on fire.   Television images showed shocked survivors wandering around the shopping stalls, blackened Ash Wednesday marks still on their foreheads.

Government officials said the attack in Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, was part of an attempt by guerrillas to bring the nation's long-simmering war to Colombia's cities.

Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said the urban offensive is a response to government offensives in the countryside. "Unfortunately, that is the risk we have to run," she said.

After the bombing, President Alvaro Uribe appointed a police general to find rebel infiltrators in Cucuta government offices. The state news agency identified the prosecutor's office as one government agency where people got jobs because of pressure from rebels.

"The police are conducting an internal investigation and will do everything necessary in Cucuta and North Santander (state)," Uribe said, according to the State News Center agency.

Cucuta Mayor Manuel Guillermo Mora said seven people were killed in the blast.

Police Gen. Luis Alfredo Rodriguez said the National Liberation Army, or ELN, was responsible for the attack. The bomb was left next to a car in the basement parking lot, police said.

Firefighters, rescue crews and police officers hustled through the smoke into the shattered complex as frightened passers-by looked on.

Family members of shopping center employees gathered nearby waiting for word of their relatives.

The ELN and the nation's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, are battling outlawed paramilitary groups for control of Cucuta. The city has one of the highest murder rates in Colombia.

Colombia is torn by a 38-year civil war that pits the leftist rebels against the government and right-wing paramilitary groups. About 3,500 people, mainly civilians, are killed in the fighting each year.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

A fire is reported to have occurred at Interpol offices on Tuesday, and although nobody was killed on injured around 50 square meters of the office were damaged by the blaze.

According to CICPC police secretary general Alejandro Hernandez, the fire destroyed several computer systems, as well as the sleeping quarters of night staff, however, he was quick to assure that all information stored on the computers was safe as it had been previously backed up.

Hernandez says that a similar fire occurred around a year ago caused by a power surge, however it is as yet unknown what caused Tuesday's blaze.

The fire is now being investigated by the Metropolitan Fire Department and CICPC police officials do discover if it was once again an accident, or if the fire was started deliberately.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Opposition Alianza Bravo Pueblo (ABP) political party leader and former Libertador Mayor Antonio Ledezma has called on President Hugo Chavez Frias to cut out the mystery and publish the names of the persons or groups allegedly behind the bombs that exploded outside the Colombian consulate and Spanish Embassy last week in Caracas.

“If the President knows who placed the bombs, he should present the evidence and reveal their identities … otherwise, the matter will be shelved as other cases.”

Ledezma recalls the discovery of an alleged sniper in Ciudad Bolivar hired to assassinate the President or the group that allegedly had allegedly planned to launch a rocket attack on the Presidential airplane, as it was approaching Simon Bolivar international airport at Maiquetia.

“Those cases were not followed up and we suspect that those who planted the bombs were the same people who have attacked media HQs and that this case will be shelved as well."