Foreign Correspondence

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Venezuela seizes Colombian missile parts heading for Israel

Note: (narconews.com, eltiempo.com) suggest that Colombian war criminal Carlos Castaño, former leader of the AUC, is in Israel. He may have been aided in his escape by the US government, even though Colin Powell declared the AUC a terrorist organization on September 10, 2001, and in spite of the fact that Castaño is wanted for extradition to the US on charges of cocaine trafficking.

The AUC is a terrorist army.

If there’s another attempt to overthrow Venezuela’s Chavez it is expected that Colombia will send troops at US insistence, possibly alongside US marines or Special Forces, or AUC units replete with Colombian soldiers.
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-Am

Venezuela seizes Colombian missile parts
Reuters
Jun 8, 2005, 10:05


CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan police seized a cargo of Colombian warplane missile components being transported to Israel and detained a warehouse manager employed by the German air freight company Lufthansa Cargo, officials said Tuesday.

"Some of these missile parts contained nitrogen which make their transport dangerous," Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra said.

The seizure comes at a time when relations between Venezuela and Colombia, which share a long common frontier, have been strained in the past years by border disputes and rows over security.

Venezuelan authorities were investigating the cargo which was intercepted in transit at the weekend at Caracas' Simon Bolivar airport.

Colombia's air force, which had sent the parts, said they were non-explosive missile electrical components which it was delivering to a company in Israel for maintenance.

Izarra corrected an earlier public announcement by the office of Venezuela's attorney general, which had reported that five warplane "missiles" had been found late Saturday in a container at Lufthansa Cargo's warehouse at the airport.

In a statement, Lufthansa Cargo confirmed that one of its Venezuelan employees had been detained.

"This seems to have happened due to transportation of sensitive pieces of freight. Lufthansa Cargo only transports freight respecting IATA (International Air Transport Association) and government regulations," the statement said.

The Colombian air force said in its statement released by Colombia's embassy in Caracas that the seized items "were not dangerous for transport by air because they were electrical parts which do not contain any explosive component."

Lufthansa representatives said they were cooperating with the Venezuelan authorities in the investigation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez often complains that Colombia's government does not do enough to stop a four-decades-old war against leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries from spilling over the border.

Colombia and the United States have accused left-winger Chavez of sheltering the rebels, a charge he denies.

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http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_002511.shtml
Source(©): Reuters