Venezuela rejects accusations of Spanish judge as 'unacceptable'

Caracas - Venezuela rejected as "unacceptable" the accusations of a Spanish judge who said there was evidence of Venezuela cooperating with an alliance of the militant Basque separatist group ETA and leftist Colombian rebels. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Monday in which it denounced that the charges formulated by National Court judge Eloy Velasco had "a political nature and motivation" to target the government of left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The judge had said there was evidence of "Venezuelan government cooperation with the illicit collaboration between FARC and ETA."

The statement from Venezuelan authorities slammed the judge for his references to a Spanish citizen who has lived in Venezuela since May 1989, as part of a deal between Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez (1974-79, 1989-93) and Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez (1982-96).

"It is surprising that nowhere is the name of the authors of this deal mentioned, while the judge takes the trouble to refer time and again and in a disrespectful way to the president of Venezuelans, Hugo Chavez, making references that are as partial as they are unfounded about the (Venezuelan) government," the text complained.

The statement said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had spoken to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to discuss the issue.

Speaking in Hanover, Germany, earlier on Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had said that Moratinos had requested an "explanation" from the Venezuelan government.

National Court judge Velasco charged seven suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and six ETA suspects with planning to stage attacks against high-ranking Colombian politicians, including President Alvaro Uribe and his predecessor Andres Pastrana, while they were in Spain.

In his document, however, the judge did not link Caracas directly with the plot to kill Uribe.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312066,venezuela-rejects-accusations-of-spanish-judge-as-unacceptable.html.