The Washington Post Wednesday editorial claimed that President Hugo Chávez, by stating that the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) possessed a "Bolivarian" political project, has associated his own agenda to that of a group both the US and Europe view as a terrorist and drug trafficking organization.

Last week, following the unilateral release of two hostages held by the FARC, Chávez said that the group waging an armed conflict in Colombia for more than 40 years now had a political agenda that both Colombia and the international community should recognize as a prerequisite for peace, AP reported.

The editorial asserts that following the FARC move, many wondered what the FARC would ask for in exchange. And the "shocking answer" came on the following day, when Chávez, in a four-hour address to the Congress, demanded that they be recognized as "a genuine army," just like another Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

"In short, Mr. Chávez was endorsing groups dedicated to violence and other criminal behavior in a neighboring Latin American democracy, and associating his agenda with theirs," said the daily newspaper in an editorial entitled "Ally to Kidnappers - Venezuela's Hugo Chávez endorses Colombian groups known for abductions, drug trafficking and mass murder."

"No wonder even governments allied with Mr. Chávez, such as those of Argentina and Ecuador, recoiled from his appeal. Latin American leaders who until now have seen in Mr. Chávez a crude populist who buys his friends with petrodollars are faced with something new: a head of state who has openly endorsed an organization of kidnappers and drug traffickers in a neighboring, democratic country.