Killing of FARC Leader Causes Colombia-Ecuador Tension

Hugo Chavez Warns of possible war in region

The Colombian Army announced on March 1 that during an attack on a rebel base near the southern border with Ecuador, its forces had killed Raul Reyes, the vice-commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The aerial attack carried out by Air Force jets armed with cluster bombs began approximately half an hour after midnight in a jungle area near the Putumayo River. According to President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, informants gave the exact coordinates of where Raul Reyes and his escort had camped 1800 meters within Ecuadorian territory.

photo of Raul Reyes dead by www.eltiempo.com

“I take full responsibility for this action and also thank those informants that with the valuable information given have contributed to rid Colombia of bloodthirsty terrorists. We will pay their rewards immediately.” said Uribe during a televised press conference.
After being informed that Reyes was dead, Uribe phoned his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa that later expressed his indignation with the way the Colombian Army had acted inside his country’s territory. While President Uribe declared that his troops did not violate Ecuadorian territory, President Correa ordered Ecuador’s embassy in Bogota to be closed and that the Ambassador leaves Colombia.
“There was no combat, the FARC guerrillas were massacred as they were sleeping, we found 16 corpses. Colombian army soldiers entered our territory illegally and took away the bodies of Reyes,Julian Conrado and other rebels,” said Correa to TV reporters.

Photo of Julian Conrado by www.eltiempo.com

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez also ordered his Ambassador to return from Colombia and increased tension in the area by sending Venezuelan troops to the border with that country and sent a stern warning to Alvaro Uribe.
“Until when will Uribe continue with his madness? All that man wants is to continue with the war. Listen to me Mr. Uribe, if you try to do something like that in Venezuelan territory, you will create a causus bellis, in other words, a cause for war,” said Chavez in a televised press conference.
For the past year Chavez has continuously criticized Uribe whom he describes as “ a pawn of U.S imperialism, that carries out all the orders given to him by George Bush”. After Israel, Colombia is the world’s second highest recipient of U.S military aid with an estimated total of US$7 billion per year. During 2006 and 2007, the Venezuelan government headed by Chavez acquired Russian military equipment that included Mig fighter planes, combat helicopters and thousands of AK-47 assault rifles at a total estimated cost of between US$2 to US$3 billion.
Raul Reyes was an extremely important element for FARC since he was in charge of carrying out all international and peace negotiations. According to the Colombian Army, Reyes may even have been the current leader of the Colombian rebels since there are some unconfirmed rumors that Manuel Marulanda a.k.a “Tirofijo” (The Sureshot in Spanish),the man that founded FARC in 1964 may have died some years ago. Raul Reyes had been a member of FARC for the past thirty years after beginning his political career as a trade union representative while working at the Colombian branch of Nestle, the famous Swiss multinational company. In the past ten years he had become even more important to Marulanda since Reyes had married his daughter. FARC has not yet announced who will be the successor of Raul Reyes, but there are many candidates in its Central Command that is formed by some twenty individuals.

Chavez Achieves Freedom of Two Farc Prisoners

images by Venezuelan TV (www.vtv.gov.ve) See the moment of reunion Venezuelan President wins important media victory At approximately 3 p.m local time of January 10, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela announced that he had spoken by satellite telephone with Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez. Both women had just been freed in good condition in some remote area of the jungle near the border of Colombia and Venezuela by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The rebels handed over the Colombian citizens to a delegation that included Red Cross volunteers, Colombian Senator Piedad Cordova and the Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela. In a spectacular live broadcast the Venezuelan State television network showed as the two former hostages spoke with Chavez. “A thousand thanks for your good work Mr. President, please don’t lower your guard and continue with your efforts to free the other prisoners,” said Consuelo Gonzalez. “I am very grateful for your mediation President Chavez, I am very grateful,” said Clara Rojas in a very emotional conversation. (by www.vtv.gov.ve) Both women were retained nearly six years ago by the rebels in separate incidents as they entered FARC controlled territory without the necessary authorization. Both women are members of political parties that are involved in the official Colombian parliamentary system, as opposed to FARC that has waged a brutal guerrilla war against the Colombian Army for the past 50 years. Also the Venezuelan television network broadcasted as the women entered an M-17 helicopter of the local airforce that had Red Cross markings and began their flight to Maiquetia International airport near Caracas, the capital of that South American nation. In an emotional interview the elderly mother of Clara Rojas stated that “this has been the biggest miracle that God could have given me.” Clara Rojas was retained by the FARC rebels along with Ingrid Betancourt that was then a candidate in the Colombian presidential election. On that occasion Rojas made a heroic gesture, since she decided to accompany her friend Ingrid into captivity, even if the rebels told her she could go free. During her captivity, Rojas had an affair with a FARC rebel, and gave birth toa boy named Emmanuel in a jungle base. Emmanuel was also supposed to be included in this liberation operation, but one month ago the Colombian government announced that Emmanuel was really in a state run orphanage. Recently the mother of Clara Rojas other relatives had DNA tests and it seems very likely that the boy in the orphanage is Emmanuel, but his real identity is yet to be confirmed. This delicate operation carried out by FARC should have occurred on Christmas day of last year but the rebels informed Chavez that it was impossible to deliver the hostages due to the intense activity carried out by helicopters and patrols of the Colombian Army. It is now clear that the Colombian authorities tried to prevent the liberation of the hostages at all costs, as was proven some months ago when two women were arrested. They were members of FARC whose mission was to deliver “proof of life” to Chavez in the form of recent photographs and personal letters. All these were immediately published by the official press and caused the outrage among the relatives of the hostages. Among the many prisoners retained by FARC that include officers and soldiers of the Colombian Army are three American military advisers Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes whose helicopter was shot down by FARC rebels in February 2003 as they flew over a jungle area. In a recent interview, one of the leaders of FARC, Raul Reyes declared that the three Americans “are spies that were trying to find out the locations of our bases, so it is very difficult that they will go free in the near future.” The main conclusion that can be gathered from this happy ending is that the hero is President Hugo Chavez, while the villain of the plot is his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, that has been described in harsh terms by Chavez as “ a puppet of Bush and U.S imperialism.” Also today Chavez declared that his next goal will be to free Ingrid Betancourt , that has both dual French and Colombian nationalities. In the last months of 2007, President Nicholas Sarkozy of France made a televised appeal to the leader of FARC, Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda to release Betancourt. After the success obtained by Chavez, maybe to obtain Betancourt´s release Sarkozy will have to accept the repatriation of Ilich Ramirez, a.k.a Carlos, a Venezuelan revolutionary that has been confined at Clairvaux prison in northeast France since 1994.

Ilich Ramirez (Carlos) Is Attacked and Injured in French Jail

Interview with Muhammad Abdallah, webmaster of Venezuelan revolutionary’s blog

It has become common practice for the superpowers to apprehend individuals of other nationalities and transfer them to jails thousands of kilometers from their homelands. To give a few examples, the prisoners at Guantanamo Base (taken from the Middle East to Cuba), General Manuel Noriega (from Panama to U.S.A in 1990), FARC leaders Simon Trinidad and Sonia (from Colombia to U.S.A in 2002). Such is the case of a Venezuelan citizen, Ilich Ramirez (a.k.a. Carlos) that was abducted in 1994 from Khartoum, Sudan by agents of the French Secret Service and taken first to La Sante prison near Paris and later to Clairvaux prison in a remote area of northwest France.


A few days before giving this interview, Muhammad Abdallah, webmaster of a blog that demands the liberation of Ilich Ramirez informed me via email that on December 26,2007, Ilich had suffered yet another cowardly aggression at the hands of an inmate called Nabil Soltane, as several prison guards looked on without trying to stop the attacker. Also this inmate was allowed to hit Ilich Ramirez with a sharp edged ring that caused a 15-mm scar and other cuts. Most probably it was a weapon similar to the “Protek Ring”, that according to its makers “reveals a hidden, retractable 1.4 inch stainless steel blade by simply applying pressure to the spring loaded top. This ring gives the wearer a great advantage by having the element of surprise on his or her side”.
Why did the guards at Clairvaux prison allow Soltane to wear such a ring inside a prison, attack Carlos from behind and by some strange coincidence just when the Venezuelan was having a telephone conversation with Isabelle Coutant, his lawyer?.
Until when will this situation continue? Not only has Ilich Ramirez already been sentenced to carry out two terms of life imprisonment but must also suffer daily harassment and physical abuse such as this latest incident. It seems that the French authorities have realized that the abduction, trial and imprisonment of Ilich Ramirez was totally illegal and are now trying to cover up their blunder. Due to this emergency, Vladimir Sanchez, Ilich´s younger brother and also the leader of the “Venezuelan Committee for the Repatriation of Commander Carlos” had to travel to Caracas for a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Relations, Nicolas Maduro, in order to discuss this situation and so was unable to take part in the interview. (It must be noted that in 1999 President Hugo Chavez declared that Ilich Ramirez should return to Venezuela) . Instead thanks to the wonders of communication via internet Muhammad answered the questions on behalf of the Committee in the following interview and explains the current situation of Ilich Ramirez, (something that would have been nearly impossible some years ago):

Question : Muhammad, since when have you been the webmaster of Ilichramirez.blogspot.com?

Muhammad Abdallah : From its beginnings. In fact it may sound pretentious on my behalf, but I consider myself responsible not only for creating the first authentic web page about Ilich, but also for the creation of the current “Committee for the Repatriation of Commander Carlos to Venezuela” (there was a first committee formed in 1991). A couple of years ago there were some sporadic initiatives to remember Ilich´s struggle. There were campaigns by our comrades from the Venezuelan Communist Party, the activity maintained by Ilich´s relatives, the sympathy of some Bolivarian revolutionaries and the gratitude shown by my Palestinian brothers, but I always noticed that they had no contact between each other.
So I spoke with the comrades from the Young Communists, I located Vladimir Ramirez and Ligia Rojas and connected them with M.Gonzalez (and other former comrades of Ilich) and also with childhood friends such as Jeronimo Carreras, J.R Castillo and others. Finally when they realized that they were not alone a decision was taken to create the Committee.



The webpage or blog has only been the presentation in Internet of our attempts to reunite all those people that in one way or another sympathized with Ilich´s struggle and had not met before. Of course, one of the main objectives of the blog is to counteract against the fierce campaign of lies that have been published about Commander Carlos during the past thirty years. Also I try to take Ilich´s message to Palestine, I make copies and translate of videos or programs aired by Al Jazeera, as well as all the articles and books published about Ilich.

Q: Muhammad, have you ever met Ilich in person?

M.A : Unfortunately, due my age, I was unable to meet Ilich, but I have had telephone conversations and received some letters from him. However I hope that when we obtain his repatriation to Venezuela we will meet personally. I do know his work and struggle for Palestine and I try to continue with his example of solidarity and international commitment. Especially now that Palestine is dying as the world watches without doing anything. The webpage is the loudspeaker that conveys his message to Palestine and the whole world.

Q: On December 28,2007,some French citizens that had been arrested and tried in Chad (Africa) were repatriated and allowed to carry out their sentence in France. What is your opinion regarding this situation? Why can’t the same be done in Ilich´s case?

M.A: You said it, brother. The law should be applied in equal terms to all. But this is not the case with Ilich. Ilich, like Che Guevara, Al Khattab or Tanja Nijmeijer, is more than just a guerrilla fighter that went to a country different than his to fight for the freedom of those people, that were also not his own. Ilich is a myth and also knows all the secrets of international politics throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and this is why, in a transgression of all laws he has been in solitary confinement for more than 13 years. In fact this last aggression he suffered a few days ago, is a just a trap to force him to fight back, be punished and sent back to solitary confinement so that he won’t be able to speak. Obviously a figure such as Ilich Ramirez cannot be compared to an NGO like the Ark of Zoe that poses no threat to any imperialist power. Also, don’t forget that the French Secret Service abducted Ilich from Sudan in an illegal operation. Ilich was never arrested legally, not to mention the sham trial where he ended up being convicted without any proof of being involved in the “crimes” he was accused of.

Q: Exactly what is Ilich´s prison status in France? Is he considered a war prisoner, political prisoner or what?

M.A: Of course Ilich is a political prisoner despite being abducted and being for so many years in isolation, without even being able to meet with his lawyers. Ilich has been jailed next to common criminals, drug traffickers, rapists and psychopaths maybe in an attempt that, like a few days ago, someone will murder him at the jail before being repatriated to Venezuela. This is why it is so important to inform President Hugo Chavez so that the Bolivarian government can take urgent action.

Q: What is Ilich´s routine at Clairvaux prison? How many hours a day is he locked up?

M..A: His routine at the jail is the same as the other high security prisoners. Worst of all is what happens when he has to be transferred to Paris during trials. Ilich must make the 300-kilometer trip inside a metal cage, with chains in his hands and feet, just like an animal.
At 58 years of age and with his physical corpulence, Ilich must remain inside this metal cage that is quite small for seven to eight hours without drinking water or going to the toilet. However these transfers are not happening at present and so his lawyers cannot defend him.

Q: Does Ilich have regular access to press, radio, television or internet?

M.A : We send him our statements and he receives some newspapers and books, that are all previously censored by the prison guards, but he has no access to internet. It is his wife and lawyer Isabelle Coutant that sends me Ilich´s statements and suggestions via email that I later upload to the blog. Until recently he could make phone calls once a week, but not to whomever he wanted. Ilich can only phone those numbers authorized by the Prison warden, such as that of his brother Vladimir. Even so Ilich has had problems lately since his telephone conversations are recorded and on many occasions we have heard sound interference or interruptions during the calls. We believe that the French Secret Service have caused this interference and have made our communication totally impossible.

Q: How often can he have contact with his relatives and friends?

M.A : That is another good question. For more than 13 years Ilich has not been allowed visits or contact with anyone. It is illegal, immoral and inhuman to keep a person isolated for such a long time. There are also other problems since his brothers and mother are unable to visit Ilich since they have been threatened in Europe and will be in serious danger in case they dare to enter France. In fact no one can visit him, his only contact with his family is via telephone. There is another worry, since despite all the lies that are published Ilich has never received any legal and financial assistance from the Venezuelan government. We work in the Committee voluntarily and all the legal costs have been met by his family and through donations by his friends. In order to call his relatives by phone he must use very expensive call cards so I have insisted with the Committee that a bank account be opened to receive donations in order to pay for his legal fees and also to buy his medicine. Ilich is now a stress diabetic and the hardships of life at Clairvaux Prison only worsen his condition and so the special medicines he needs imply an additional cost.

Q: What has been the Venezuelan government’s attitude towards Ilich´s case?
M.A: Recently I uploaded at the blog an audio recording of the “Alo Presidente” radio program where President Hugo Chavez once more speaks with sympathy and affection of Ilich Ramirez. However he is the only member of the government that has the courage to do so. We (the committee) have spoken on many occasions with Venezuelan ambassadors and consuls from different countries, for example the one in Spain, but they all see Ilich´s case as uncomfortable and dangerous. Very recently I also published in the blog a statement by Ilich´s wife and lawyer, Isabelle Coutant, where she describes the shameful behavior by Arnaldo Perez , the Venezuelan Ambassador in Paris.

Q: Which Palestinian organization does Ilich support at present?
M.A : Ilich arrived in Palestine in the early 1970s thanks to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), founded by Dr. George Habash, that is still active, but in a different way. This organization has changed much through the years, but where other famous fighters such as Layla Khaleb took part. Layla continues to struggle for Palestine and I hope to convince her to write an article for my blog very soon. Now many young Palestinians have continued with this 60 year struggle against Israeli occupation, but unfortunately when I speak about Ilich in Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus or even the Gaza Strip, most of the resistance fighters are too young to know the story of Commander Carlos and the comrades in arms of Ilich at the PFLP have been killed by the Israeli occupation army.
You can’t imagine how much we need someone like Ilich Ramirez in the Gaza Strip at present.

What would be Ilich´s opinion about the recent conferences between Mahmoud Abas, President George Bush and Israel?

“Absolute nonsense. These are excuses so that the politicians, analysts and advisers continue to get rich and receive media exposure while we continue in agony. They have been meeting for 60 years and can continue to meet for another 60 years.
Nothing will change, Palestine will only be in peace when the Israeli occupation army stops arresting and torturing all children over 15, when they stop occupying Palestinian homes and property and giving it to Jewish colonizers. Also when they eliminate the checkpoints and restrictions to water and electricity, when they bring down the wall of shame that divides entire families and the attacks and bombings of civilian population cease.
Surely only those of us that have lost relatives, (unarmed women and children), during Israeli bombings can understand the magnificence and generosity of a Venezuelan, that like President Hugo Chavez denounced the 2006 invasion and bombing of Lebanon by Israel by saying “Enough is Enough!”

Q: Did Ilich ever meet Che Guevara?
M.A : No, because when Che Guevara was murdered Ilich had not even began studying at Patrice Lumumba University. However, if today Che Guevara could see his reflection in mirror, he would see Ilich and viceversa.

Interview carried out via email between Venezuela and Chile from Jan 8 to Jan 10 ,2008.



Brief glossary of names and places: During his 40 year struggle Ilich Ramirez has obviously met many people and been to many places, here are some mentioned in this interview :

Clairvaux Prison: Originally an abbey built in 1115 by a religious order in a mountainous area of Northeast France. Today it is the country’s main maximum-security prison. On January 16, 2006, several inmates imprisoned with life sentences published a statement that described life at the prison as “a place where the death sentence has been replaced by a regime of slow and continuous punishment, every activity at the prison is planned to constantly mistreat prisoners.”

Patrice Lumumba University : Located in Moscow, during the Soviet era became a center for the formation of Communist Party militants from all over the world.

L'Arche de Zoé: French NGO dedicated to humanitarian aid.

Layla Khaleb : Female Palestinian resistance fighter that took part in spectacular actions such as the 1968 hijacking of an El Al passenger aircraft that was en route from Rome to Tel Aviv. In 1969 she also successfully hijacked a TWA plane from Europe to Damascus, Syria.


Tanja Nijmeier : A Netherlands volunteer currently with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an organization that has been at war with the government army for more than forty years.

Al Khatabb : Saudi Arabian fighter, took part in several wars as part of the First International Islamic battalion. Killed in Chechnya in 2002 when the Russian secret service delivered him a poisoned letter..

Alo Presidente ! : A weekly live radio broadcast where common citizens can phone and talk to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Ligia.Rojas : Ilich´s first schoolteacher.

Jeronimo Carreras : Founder of the Venezuelan Communist party

M.Gonzalez, J.R Castillo : Venezuelan friends and comrades of Ilich Ramirez.

Mahmoud Abas : Current president of the Palestinian National Authority

BRAZIL CRUSHES ARGENTINA IN COPA AMERICA FINAL

Brazil Crushes Argentina in final of Copa America
Dunga´s team humiliates traditional rivals BY 3-0

On July 15, thanks to its impressive form in the previous matches, Argentina was the clear favorite to win the final of the 2007 Copa America. Its rival was Brazil that had been much criticized by the local press after losing the first match against Mexico and only managing to draw with Ecuador in the second. The match was played at the Pachencho Romero Stadium in Maracaibo, and apart from bringing together the two most powerful squads in the continent was also the chance to see who would win the personal duel between Lionel Messi and Robinho. Messi plays for Barcelona in the Spanish first division, while Robinho plays for its arch-rival Real Madrid, that recently became champions of the 2006-2007 season. Robinho arrived at the match as the leading goalscorer of Copa America with six goals, but it had been Messi that had become a crowd favorite with his skilful play, including a fantastic goal against Mexico in the semifinal.
However Brazil struck the first blow after only three minutes of play as Julio Baptista scored a spectacular long range goal from nearly thirty meters. Only four minutes later Juan Roman Riquelme nearly equalized after a great combination of passes but his hard shot hit the crossbar of Doni´s goal. It seemed that after this missed opportunity the Argentinean players sensed that it would not be their afternoon, and they would be further demoralized in the 40th minute as captain Roberto Ayala scored an own goal while trying to intercept a cross by a Daniel Alves of Brazil.
Brazil continued playing its effective football during the rest of the first half and Argentina's attempts to score were constantly blocked.
It would be Alves gain that would give the knockout punch for Brazil in the 68th minute as he finished off a well-created counterattack with a precise low shot. From then on Argentina became completely demoralized and gave up trying to equalize.
After this victory, Brazil has won the Copa America on eight occasions, while Mexico obtained the third place after defeating Uruguay by 3-1 on July 14. The general opinion is that this year's edition of Copa America has been a success due to the impressive new stadiums built specially for the occasion by the Venezuelan government and the many goals scored during the competition (86).

Starting Libneups
Brasil: Doni; Maicon, Alex, Juan , Gilberto; Mineiro, Josué, Elano , Julio Baptista; Wagner Love ,Robinho .
Coach: Dunga.
Argentina: R.Abbondanzieri; J.Zanetti, R.Ayala, G. Milito , G.Heinze; J.Mascherano, Cambiasso ,J.Verón.J.R. Riquelme; Messi y Tevez.
Coach: Alfio Basile.
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Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay).

Historic Result For Venezuela in Copa America

On July 3, the Venezuelan national team qualified first in Group A after a goalless draw against Uruguay at the Merida Stadium. This is an historic achievement as it is the first time that Venezuela goes on to the second round of Copa America. Always known as the "pushover" team in South American football, Venezuelan football is definitely improving, both at national team level and at club level. This situation was proven at the recent of the Libertadores Cup, where Caracas F.C. made it to the quarterfinals with victories over Nacional of Uruguay (both at home and away). At Merida, Venezuela went immediately on the attack against Uruguay from the first minute, trying to get an early goal. At the end of the first half, the televised transmission showed that ball possession had favored Venezuela by 55% to Uruguay's 45%. However neither of the teams managed to capitalize their goal scoring chances, and there still is a rumor among fans and press that there may have been a tacit agreement between both sides to be satisfied with the 0-0 draw, that sent both to the second round.
On July 4 at the impressive "Olimpico" Stadium in the city of Puerto la Cruz, Chile and Mexico played the last match of Group B. Mexico was had already qualified after an impressive 2-0 victory over Brazil and a 2-1 win over Ecuador, so it fielded a reserve team against Chile, that only needed to draw to qualify. Both teams played with a defensive style, broken only by the occasional counterattack. The only clear goalscoring chance of the match went to Chile, as in the second half striker Juan Lorca was apparently brought down in the area, but the referee did not award the expected penalty. Anyhow, the match ended in another 0-0 draw and the result has raised suspicions among the press that another "tacit" agreement may have been reached before the match between the Mexican and the Chilean players, since several play in Mexican clubs. The second match of the evening was played between Brazil and Ecuador, with a 1-0 victory for the five time World champions, thanks to a penalty scored by Robinho. According to the tournament rules, Venezuela must play Uruguay again this Saturday, July 7, in what has been the only curious arrangement in the tournament. In the same manner, Brazil must also face Chile again, but this time both teams have promised a "do or die" match in this knockout stage, and maybe Chile can get revenge on the 3-0 defeat against Brazil that occurred on July 1.