Chávez to visit Russia and Belarus in February or March

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez late February or early in March is to visit Russia and Belarus again, sources with the Venezuelan Embassy to Moscow told Efe on Wednesday.

"We are expecting his visit, but the exact dates are still unknown," said a member of the diplomatic mission in the Russian capital.

Meanwhile, Russian sources succinctly said that Russian Head of State Vladimir Putin was scheduled to welcome Chávez in Moscow before leaving the Kremlin following the Russian presidential vote next March 2.

Further, Venezuelan Chargé d'Affairs in Belarus, Américo Días Núñez Wednesday told reporters that Chávez in February or March would visit again Moscow and Minsk, where he was last June.

Chávez's visits last year focused on political, economic, military and technical cooperation with Russia and Belarus, two countries that are tightening their links with the government of Caracas, Efe reported.

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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.