March 15

Newspaper reports new link between ETA and Chávez's government
An article published by conservative Spanish newspaper ABC reports that Antonio Egido Sigüenza, a promoter of the Communist Party of Basque Homelands (PCTV) who in the 80's belonged to an ETA commando, has relationships with the government of Hugo Chávez.

"Antonio Egido, who belonged to an ETA commando in the 80s and to the National Bureau of the Basque nationalist political party Herri Batasuna, has been hired by the Pedro Gual Institute of Higher Diplomatic Studies, which is attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," reported the Spanish newspaper on its website.

The newspaper added that last February Egido participated in a meeting convened by the Pedro Gual Institute of Higher Diplomatic Studies and he was presented as a "fighter for the rights of self-determination and independence of the Basque people."

Extradition of ETA suspect would end Caracas' terrorist links
According to the indictment that the Spanish government sent to Cuban and Venezuelan authorities requesting information about the presence in both countries of ETA members allegedly related to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), members of the rebel group have travelled to the city of Maracaibo (northwestern Venezuela) without any restrictions, purchased explosives, and planned to practice the use of explosives.

Madrid has presented the first evidence about the accusations made by the Spanish National Court, which are more than simple rumors or accusations between Spain and Venezuela with regard to the possible shelter that Caracas would have provided to members of the armed Basque group ETA in order to establish ties with the FARC.

Among other actions, the Spanish judge Eloy Velasco issued an arrest warrant with purposes of extradition against Spanish citizen Arturo Cubillas Fontán, who is residing in Venezuela and worked in the Ministry of Justice under President Hugo Chávez.

Magaly Vásquez, director of Criminal Law graduate studies at the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), said that the fact that Cubillas Fontán worked as a government official in Venezuela could be interpreted as if the Venezuelan government would be serving as a sanctuary (of terrorists).

The legal expert considers that if the Venezuelan government rejects Cubillas' extradition this decision would not constitute a crime but it would jeopardize Caracas's position in the international community.

Spanish judiciary orders detention of ETA-FARC members
The Spanish judiciary has issued international bench warrants against several members of Basque terrorist group ETA and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), for alleged assassination plot against high-ranking Colombian government officers.

As reported by court sources, Judge Eloy Velasco, of the Spanish National Court issued last week bench warrants against six presumed ETA members, including Arturo Cubillas Fontan, who held an incumbency at the Venezuelan government, and five FARC members, Efe quoted.

Judge Velasco indicted last March 1, indicted six ETA members and seven FARC members, and gave an indication of their alleged links with the Venezuelan government.

According to the sources, the judge did not order the detention of the two FARC members because one of them is dead, and because the only woman facing trial, Remedios García Albert, is in Spain.

March 16

Chávez: Late FARC leader visited presidential residence
Hugo Chávez said on March 15 that he met in Caracas with Raúl Reyes, the slain leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to comply with several requests that former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana would have made to his Venezuelan counterpart.

"(I met with Reyes) in private and in secret in La Casona (one of the residences of Venezuelan presidents). We talked the whole night through," Chávez said and added that he worked to "try to find peace."

"Then, Pastrana asked me to meet with Antonio … I do not remember his last name, one of the leaders of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN). I also met with him, in private," Chávez told journalists.

Meanwhile, President Chávez met with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Miraflores Palace and called him "a socialist with very clear principles."

"There is no protocol between us. (...) We are brothers (...) He is a socialist. He has very clear principles," said President Chávez, after he held a private meeting with Lukashenko. After the meeting, delegations of both countries met with the two presidents.

Chávez said that Venezuela will sell 80,000 barrels of crude oil to Belarus from May 1. "The shipment will enable us to enter the European market and work with joint ventures with Belarusian refineries. Belarus is very generous with us," the Venezuelan leader said.

Spain does not consider Venezuela a "haven of ETA members"
Venezuela is not the new sanctuary of Basque terrorist group ETA, but there is a potential "core," that should be investigated by Spain, Spanish Minister of the Interior Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said.

The minister remarks came after a Spanish judge issued a bench warrant against 12 members of ETA and of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), mostly of them residents of Venezuela and Cuba, AFP quoted.

"There is a core of people linked with ETA in Venezuela who have been there for some years and…some new additions might have been made," he told Radio Nacional de España (Spain's National Radio, RNE).

"We need to check what it is, its extent, and above all, prevent it, if any, from sprouting or remaining," the senior officer said.

The Spanish government is interested in "clearing up any suspicion" and "I therefore request the cooperation of Venezuelan authorities and I think we will get it," the minister added.

March 17

Pastrana denies having authorized Chávez's meeting with FARC members
Former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana denied on March 17 that his government (1998-2002) authorized a meeting between the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and members of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In an interview with Spanish radio station Onda Cero, Pastrana rebutted Chávez's statements. The Venezuelan leader said that Pastrana asked him to hold a meeting with Raúl Reyes, a former FARC spokesman and "number two" of the Colombian guerrillas who was killed in March 2008, Efe reported.

Pastrana said on March 17 that Chávez's statements "were not true." He stressed that "Chávez's memory is failing him."

"We never authorized Chávez to talk with Reyes," the former Colombian President insisted.

"President Chávez worked with us in the process of trying to advance a peace process with Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN), but never with the FARC," admitted Pastrana.

March 19

Spanish opposition queries Zapatero's government about Venezuela
The leading Spanish opposition party will question the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero about the relations between Spain and Venezuela, recently affected by charges with alleged cooperation between members of the Basque separatist group ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Venezuela.

The group headed by the People's Party in the Congress of Deputies will focus on the relations with Venezuela in a session to be held on March 24, reported the news agency Europa Press, AP quoted.

Gustavo de Arístegui, the spokesman of the Popular Party in the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Congress of Deputies, plans to ask Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos if his foreign policy "contributes to the Venezuelan government's cooperation in the fight against terrorism."

Meanwhile, Deputy Jorge Moragas will question the government about Cuba.

Venezuela is positive of "full cooperation with Spain" in ETA case
"There is full cooperation" between Spain and Venezuela in the case of people "presumably" linked with the armed Basque separatist group ETA, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro said on March 19 in Lisbon.

Such cooperation will be always carried out "within the framework of international law," Maduro added. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister paid a brief visit to Lisbon for talks with his Portuguese counterpart, Luis Amado, Efe reported.

"Whenever someone (related to Venezuela) has been requested, we have been at the service (of the petitioner) and we will continue doing so by fulfilling the principles of international law," Maduro said in the Portuguese capital.

The Venezuelan Minister referred to the recent arrest of ETA suspect Andoni Zengotitabengoa in Lisbon airport, when he tried to fly to Caracas. "The Spanish government alerted the Venezuelan authorities that another alleged ETA member might be on the same flight" and Venezuela immediately took the necessary steps.

On the international arrest warrant against Arturo Cubillas, a Spaniard with Venezuelan citizenship, due to his alleged activities related to ETA, Maduro said that the Venezuelan judicial system "has asked for more data on this request."