El
general de EEUU, Benjamin Mixon desestimó acusaciones de la revista US News
& Report
No
hay razón para creer que Venezuela tiene vínculos con guerrilla colombiana y
terrorismo
Washington
DC, Octubre 9, 2003).- El
general Benjamin R. Mixon, director de Operaciones del Comando Sur con base en
Miami,
desestimó las informaciones de la revista US News & World Report,
que sugieren que
Venezuela tiene vínculos con los rebeldes de Colombia y que esté
proporcionando ayuda a los radicales islámicos del Oriente Medio Oriente y
otros terroristas. “No tengo ninguna razón para creer eso”, dijo el general
Mixon en una reunión sostenida con los editores y reporteros del diario The
Miami Herald.
En
la información publicada hoy por El Herald, la periodista Nancy San Martín
escribe que “según un artículo reciente de US & News Report,
Venezuela está proporcionando documentos similares a las tarjetas del Seguro
Social que pueden ser usadas por los grupos radicales islámicos, y permite a
los cubanos operar dentro de aparatos paramilitares y de inteligencia de
Venezuela”.
Cita
la respuesta del general Mixon quien dijo “‘No tengo ninguna razón para
creer eso’.. agregando que el Comando Sur no tiene ningún detalle acerca de
cuales son las fronteras que los terroristas están cruzando. ‘Ciertamente no
tenemos ninguna información de que ellos estén siendo apoyados por cualquier
gobierno en la región’, dijo”.
Colombia's
U.S.-trained armed forces have gotten so much better at combating
drug-trafficking and guerrilla activities over the last year, the country's
largest insurgency group may have to opt for peace negotiations within the next
12 to 18 months, a senior Southcom official said Wednesday.
''If
the Colombian military keeps the pressure up . . . I think you're going to see
some sort of movement on the part of the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia],'' Brig. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, director of operations at the
Pentagon's Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, told The Herald.
''They
are no longer going to be able to sustain their operations,'' Mixon said.
``Ideally they'll decide to come to some kind of negotiations with the Colombian
government.''
Mixon
said deadly bomb explosions, like the one that went off at a black-market
shopping district in downtown Bogotá Wednesday, indicate a ''movement to
terrorism'' by guerrilla organizations, which have historically launched
military-type operations.
Although
no group had yet claimed responsibility for the car bombing, the FARC has taken
credit for similar detonations. Those kinds of terrorist activities serve as a
sign that trouble is brewing within the organization, Mixon said.
Mixon,
who met with editors and reporters at The Herald, also dismissed recent reports
that suggest Venezuela has links with rebels in neighboring Colombia and is
providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other
terrorists.
According
to a recent U.S. News & World Report article, Venezuela is providing
identity documents similar to Social Security cards that could be useful to
radical Islamic groups and is host to Cubans operating inside Venezuela's
paramilitary and intelligence apparatus.
''I
have no reason to believe that,'' Mixon said, adding that Southcom has no
details about which borders terrorists are crossing.
''We certainly don't have any information that they are being supported by any other government in the region,'' he said.