Venezuela says inquiry indicates Colombian rebel was abducted

[Minstrel Boy]

Venezuela says inquiry indicates Colombian rebel was abducted

Thursday, January 6, 2005

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A senior Colombian rebel was apparently kidnapped in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas a day before authorities reported him captured in neighboring Colombia, Venezuela's interior minister said Thursday.

The information, gleaned in an official investigation, coincides with claims by the rebel's lawyer that he was abducted in Caracas and promises to worsen a growing international dispute.

Colombia on Thursday dismissed claims that Rodrigo Granda of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was abducted in Venezuela by Colombian agents, insisting police captured him at a hotel in the Colombian border city of Cucuta.

But Venezuelan police obtained a statement from a Colombian journalist who allegedly met Granda at a cafeteria in Caracas on December 13, Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said. Chacon said according to the journalist, whose identity wasn't released, Granda went outside to take a cell phone call and didn't return. Another witness told authorities of seeing a man shoved into a vehicle there, Chacon said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/01/06/venezuela.colombia.ap/

[Minstrel Boy]

1. Alleged Kidnapping of Guerrilla Leader Sparks Tensions

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"There are also signs that could implicate Colombian functionaries," the official communique added. "If this extremely grave possibility, which would violate Venezuelan sovereignty, is verified, the actions merited by the case will be taken."

A violation of national sovereignty, which would "drag us into a conflict that, although tragic, can and must only be resolved by Colombians themselves", will "definitely not be tolerated," the statement concludes.

...

And in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Rodríguez, after describing the kidnapping as "an international crime," added that his country also condemns "the cold-blooded murders of not only Venezuelan soldiers in recent months, but of Venezuelan civilians as well."

He was referring to an incident last September, when irregular Colombian combatants ambushed an inspection team of oil company employees and their military guard in southwestern Venezuela near the border, killing four soldiers and a female engineer.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26943