Student movement denounces "Chávez' abuses"

Venezuelan student movement "Manos por la libertad" (Hands for Freedom) Thursday in Madrid, with support from some Spanish political groups, denounced "the abuses of the dictatorship" of President Hugo Chávez against freedoms and human rights, Efe reported.

Leaders of conservative People's Party (PP), Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the Citizens' Party, and members of the Venezuelan opposition in Spain attended the presentation made by Manos por la libertad, headed by Venezuelan student Andrés Ayala.

Ayala explained that the movement emerged last August following discontinuation of operations of Caracas-based private television channel Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). "Venezuelan youth felt compelled to hit the streets to advocate freedom and human rights," which are curtailed by the "dictatorial regime of Hugo Chávez."

He reminded that 370 students "have been arrested" in Venezuela for demonstrating against the government.

He added "the youth have a responsibility to defend the Venezuelan people's freedom and rights," as the "opposition has lost prestige and lacks the strength to fight" against the government.

He warned that Chávez "plans to change the Constitution in order to stay in power forever," because the Venezuelan ruler "does not believe in democracy" and intends to "build a communist regime."

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IISS: The FARC financed Chávez before 1999

10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.