Colombian paramilitary force supports anti-Chavez militia

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's outlawed paramilitary force on Thursday declared support for what it said was a new rightist militia formed in neighboring Venezuela to wage "civil resistance" against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a 10,000-member militia, said in a letter that it supports a shadowy Venezuelan sister group that announced its creation earlier this week in a video sent to Colombian television.

In the video, a man wearing a ski mask to conceal his identity said he had mustered 2,200 fighters to fight leftist Colombian guerrillas who cross the long jungle border into oil-rich Venezuela and declared the left-wing populist Chavez "a military target."

Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected president, already faces rumors of discontent among his own officers despite a shake-up in the military that followed an unsuccessful coup in April.

Venezuela's relations with Colombia have been strained since Chavez's election, and he has angrily denied Colombian army claims that fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had taken refuge in Venezuela.

This time, Chavez suggested to reporters that the video was the work of a lone masked man with a big mouth.

"We'll have to confirm this. But as you well know, if there are self-defense forces anywhere, the sadly named paramilitaries, it's not Venezuela," said the president, whose leftist rhetoric has bitterly split his country between poor Chavez supporters and wealthier opponents.

Chavez has also been a prominent critic of the U.S.-backed "Plan Colombia" anti-cocaine offensive, which was partly aimed at sapping Colombian rebels' finances. The video was a sign Colombia's 38-year-old war could be spilling over its borders.

Thu, Jun. 27, 2002 - Colombian mayors heed rebel threats to quit or die*** GIGANTE, Colombia - The message came to eight Gigante council members through an ominous cellphone call: Guerrilla commanders summon you to their mountaintop. Hours later, another group of the small town's council members, inspectors and mayor were beckoned too. Quit your jobs, they were told by leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Or die.

'All they have to do is kill three or four mayors and everyone would say, `Oh! They were serious!' '' said Hernán Muñoz, the former clerk in Gigante, in Colombia's Huila state. ``I don't want to be that martyr. Let someone else be the martyr.''

What began last month as a small-town strategy to derail city government in southern Colombia has swept the nation. By Tuesday, the FARC had menaced nearly 125 mayors from throughout Colombia. Threats have now hit the mayors of Bogotá, Cali and Medellín, the nation's largest cities. In Antioquia on Saturday, 23 mayors quit. In the state of Arauca, nearly 100 city officials stepped down, although many officials nationwide withdrew their resignations this week. U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson announced the American Embassy in Bogotá would include mayors and other city officials in its ongoing program that offers armored cars and other protection to activists, union leaders and other people in danger.

In small towns across Colombia, city halls are padlocked. Paving projects have stopped. Garbage is piling up, medical centers are running out of supplies and courthouses have shut down. Many mayors are working from their state capitals or homes, refusing to sign contracts or do anything that resembles governing.

A FARC strategy to destabilize Colombia's municipal government has the potential of bringing the nation to its knees just before a new president takes office, the mayors say. As Colombia's federal government grapples with its options -- more security, exile mayors -- it has refused to accept resignations. Democracy, federal officials say, isn't a card game: You can't just fold. ''Resigning does not solve the situation at all,'' said Nelson Rodolfo Amaya, interior vice minister. ``We need to sustain democracy. These people were not chosen, they were elected. We'll need exceptional measures. We'll do whatever it takes.''***

Venezuela: Alleged Paramilitary Force Most Likely Fictitious***The group might be a real paramilitary organization, especially since many Venezuelan ranchers have been affected by violence from across the border. But the situation has not reached the level at which such a paramilitary could be organized and funded. The idea of the AUV is more likely the invention of a handful of individuals or groups bitterly opposed to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's regime and who are engaging in psychological warfare in an effort to heighten tensions in the country.

During the 1960s, Venezuela's government and armed forces battled domestic insurgencies that were supported logistically and financially by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. But the country has no history of organized right-wing paramilitary activity. Nevertheless, during the past year, Venezuelan ranching associations in border states like Apure, Tachira and Zulia have been warning with growing insistence that some ranchers are recruiting and arming private security forces to protect themselves against kidnapping and extortion attempts by Colombian guerrillas.

These warnings have coincided with multiple reports of more incursions by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel groups into Venezuela. In fact, Caracas dailies El Universal and El Nacional, as well as Bogota daily El Tiempo, have published several reports since mid-2001 confirming the existence of FARC and ELN base camps inside Venezuela. Earlier this year, the FARC's 33rd Front also launched attacks against Colombian targets from a staging area inside Venezuelan territory and then retreated to Venezuela to escape pursuing Colombian army and AUC forces.***

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