Colombia’s Duque asks U.S. to declare Venezuela a country that promotes terrorism

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombian President Iván Duque asked the United States on Monday (26) to declare Venezuela a country that promotes terrorism because, he said, it protects ELN guerrillas and FARC dissidents who perpetrated attacks against a military brigade post and his official helicopter.

“It is clear that this approval on the part of Venezuela also deserves to be labeled by the United States as a country that promotes terrorism,” Duque said at the III. International Seminar on the Analysis and Prevention of Urban Terrorism, held in Bogotá and attended by U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg.

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The Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, assured last Thursday that both the attack against Duque on June 26, when he was traveling in the presidential helicopter, and against Brigade 30, located in Cúcuta, capital of the department of Norte de Santander, bordering Venezuela, committed eleven days before, “were planned from Venezuela”.

In that line, the Colombian Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, assured on that occasion that the Colombian authorities have evidence that those attacks were perpetrated by the 33rd Front of the dissidents of the former FARC, who are led by “Jhon Mechas” (real name unknown), and who take refuge in Venezuela.

The Magdalena Medio Bloc of the FARC dissidents recognized, in a video published over the weekend, that it was the author of the attack against the 30th Army Brigade in Cúcuta, where a car bomb exploded, and of the attack against Duque and part of his cabinet when they were being transported in the presidential helicopter.

SANCTIONS TO PROTECTORS

Duque said today that it is necessary to “fine-tune” the intelligence systems to “realize where the protectors of these structures (criminal groups) are and appeal to sanctions.”

According to the Colombian leader, the guerillas known as “Iván Marquez,” “El Paisa” and “Romaña,” who command the FARC dissidents that broke away from the peace agreement signed between the government and the guerrillas in November 2016, are protected in Venezuela.

In Venezuela, according to Duque, there are also Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo Quinchía, alias “Pablito”, and “Antonio García”, whose real name is Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro Acosta, who assumed the leadership of the National Liberation Army (ELN) after the resignation of Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias “Gabino”.

“Just as we have seen that there are countries that harbor in their territory those who have committed these acts (attacks) and, in addition, they arrogate to themselves the capacity to do so and say so before the world, today we can also see cases that are absolutely incontrovertible, ambassador”, added the president.

The president explained that the purpose of this declaration of Venezuela as a country that promotes terrorism is not only to unveil a “conniving and pernicious” relationship but also so that “they can take a path: either continue sponsoring terrorism or hand over terrorists to the authorities of the countries that are looking for them”.

U.S. Ambassador Goldberg assured that Colombia and the United States share values and democracy, which is why “we are working against terrorism”.

Goldberg recalled that the two nations base their relations on a “set of shared values” such as democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.

Duque also insisted that terrorism is a “global threat” but that after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the “world consolidated the reaction of international security bodies to understand that this phenomenon has to be dismantled and confronted with all capabilities.”

HEAVY MACHINERY

On the other hand, Duque advocated the consolidation of a “global alliance” to trace the heavy machinery with which illegal groups develop mining activities and obtain resources to finance terrorism.

He said it is necessary to know who transports machinery such as 30-ton backhoes, who buys them, installs them, and operates them, which is not done by ordinary people.

“We are facing an international black market where second-hand machinery is also being marketed, and it is important to impose sanctions on companies that promote the sale of heavy equipment without traceability”, said the Colombian president.