Embracing Terrorists Supporters

by Diego Arria *

Handshakes and forced smiles interchanged by the twenty head of states of Latin America that last week attended the Rio Group Summit in the Dominican Republic, lowered the decibels , but the conflict is not over by any measure. How could it be otherwise when two heads of state are denounced publicly by one of their counterparts for cooperating with the terrorist organization FARC guilty of crimes against humanity such as murder, torture, and kidnapping?

President Uribe’s accusations that Chavez has bankrolled the FARC and formed with the FARC a strategy to gain international recognition and destabilize Colombia’s democratically elected government is too serious to be swept under the rug. Much of the evidence behind these new allegations was based on data culled from computers recovered during the raid on the FARC encampment, hundreds of pages of which have been shared with Interpol and the OAS. Much more of that data has yet to be disclosed.

If true, President Uribe’s allegations would provide the groundwork for a case against Venezuela and Chavez in an international tribunal. UN Security Council Resolution 1373 provides that: “Anyone who has participated in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts must be brought to justice.” This resolution assigns equal responsibility to perpetrators and supporters of international terrorism and would apply to Venezuela and Ecuador if in fact these states provided safe havens and financing for the FARC with which to launch terrorist activities.

The Colombian government should share the data it has collected in connection with this FARC raid with the rest of the world as soon as doing so will not compromise any ongoing investigations. The citizens of Venezuela and Ecuador deserve to know whether evidence exists implicating their governments in supporting the FARC's terrorist activities. And the relatives of the FARC's hundreds of hostages, among them dozens of Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and three Americans, ought to know if the FARC receives material support from these governments. Getting this information out will permit the relatives of hostages to pursue legal and political remedies previously unavailable to them--and thereby increase the pressure on FARC and its enablers. Colombia should proceed with its previously announced intention to bring charges of crimes against humanity in international court against any Venezuelan or Ecuadorean leaders so implicated by the recovered evidence.

Handshakes and “abrazos” between heads of states at summits are not enough for the families of the FARC's kidnap victims, nor should they provide closure for the government of Colombia, either.

* Diego Arria is the former Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations.

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