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Paraguayan sources: Landing of Venezuelan military plane was routine

Western Hemisphere
Paraguay's Armed Forces confirmed on Monday that the landing of a Venezuelan military plane last week in Asunción was routine, thus denying media reports about the alleged undercover entry of Venezuelan intelligent agents into the country.

General Hugo Aranda, the Air Force Commander General, told reporters that the Venezuelan military plane made a routine landing on Thursday in the Silvio Pettirossi airport and it took off hours later with all its crew.

"The plane operated according to Paraguayan laws. It entered the country with a 12 crew members," Aranda said. The top military officer added that news outlets in Asunción are spreading "false information," that two crew members allegedly stayed in the country, Efe reported.

Meanwhile, right wing Paraguay's vice president, Federico Franco, who is assuming temporarily the presidency in the absence of left Catholic President Fernando Lugo, who is attending the FAO's World Food Summit, requested on Monday the Armed Forces to brief him on the situation.

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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.