Sweden-based news website Anncol, best known for it’s pro-FARC stance and publisher of many FARC statements over the years, has criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for deporting an editor of the website to Colombia.
According to an open letter sent to Colombian media on Sunday, Chavez is responsible for what will happen to “comrade Joaquin Perez Becerra” while “in the hands of the government of Juan Manuel Santos.”
Perez Becerra was arrested on April 22 an an airport near Caracas when arriving from the German city of Frankfurt. Two days later, he was deported to Colombia, that accuses the Colombian-born Swedish citizen of being “the ringleader of the FARC’s international front in Europe.”
It is the first time that Anncol spoke out about the arrest; the website has not been updated since days before the arrest and has suffered severe technical difficulties since then.
Chavez revealed for the first time on Sunday that some of his political allies have collaborated with Colombia’s guerrillas in the past but he said he warned them to stop because it could give Washington an excuse to attack Venezuela.
Chavez said he contacted radical government supporters who had met with the leftist rebels, presumably to tell them to stop collaborating with a group that Colombia and U.S. officials consider terrorist.
The Venezuelan president didn’t say exactly who was supporting the rebel groups.
