A Venezuelan commission that was installed to investigate alleged plans to assassinate President Hugo Chavez Tuesday said Colombian government officials took part in an assassination plot.
According to the commission, right wing Colombian paramilitaries are still active inside Venezuela to carry out the assassination of the country’s left wing president.
“There exists a plan against the Government of Venezuela and President Chavez,” commission chairman Mario Isea told the country’s National Assembly. This plot can count on “the participation of persons within the Colombian Government,” the politician said.
“It’s an ongoing plan of magnitute that involves politicians, media, military and [Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe, who practically contributed to theformation of (paramilitary organization) Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, that built a factory of mercenaries,” Isea said.
The commission chairman recalled the 2005 arrest of 152 paramilitaries in a camp just outside the capital Caracas. According to Venezuela, this paramilitary camp was set up with the help of Colombian intelligence agency DAS and had the objective to forcefully disappear high government officials, including Chavez.
Isea asked Venezuelan Justice to re-open the investigation into this ‘Daktari’ camp, claiming that not all aspects had been investigated. The commission chairman wants prosecutors to also investigate exiled Venezuelan military officials who had been involved in the 2002 coup against Chavez and according to Isea are still plotting to kill the President.
Part of the plot to get rid of the Venezuelan President is the ongoing spreading of false information, which would make a coup or assassination look like a favor to democracy, Isea said.
According to him, the Colombian government plays an important role in this, as the right wing Colombian government is “the executive arm of the empirial plan against the peoples fighting for a sovereign right to exploit their natural resources.”
Colombia and Venezuela partly suspended diplomatic ties after the U.S. and Colombia announced that Americans will be allowed the use of at least seven military bases in Colombia to fight drug trafficking and terrorism. Shortly after, the Colombian government accused Venezuela of having provided rocket launchers to the FARC.
