VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCV #1760/01 3571929
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221929Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2340
INFO RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS CARACAS 001760 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/CT (SHORE) AND NCTC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PTER VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: 2008 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: STATE 120019 
 
The following is post's submission for the 2008 Country 
Reports on Terrorism on Venezuela.  Embassy point of contact 
is Political Officer Evan Owen (OwenE@state.gov). 
 
Begin Text 
 
In May 2008, Venezuela was re-certified as "not cooperating 
fully" with U.S. antiterrorism efforts under Section 40A of 
the Arms Export and Control Act, as amended (the "Act"). 
Pursuant to this certification, defense articles and services 
may not be sold or licensed for export to Venezuela from 
October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009.  This certification 
will lapse unless it is renewed by the Secretary of State by 
May 15, 2009. 
 
President Hugo Chavez persisted in his public criticism of 
U.S. counterterrorism efforts and deepened Venezuelan 
relationships with state sponsors of terrorism Iran and Cuba. 
 Chavez brokered the unilateral release of six hostages from 
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in January 
and February.  High levels of corruption among Venezuelan 
officials combined with Chavez's ideological sympathy for the 
FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN) severely limited 
Venezuelan cooperation with Colombia in combating terrorism. 
In January, Chavez called for, and the Venezuelan National 
Assembly approved, a resolution that the FARC and ELN be 
recognized internationally as belligerent forces, not 
terrorist groups. 
 
In March, Chavez called FARC second-in-command Raul Reyes, "a 
good revolutionary" and held a national moment of silence 
following his death.  Chavez also ordered ten Army 
battalions, tanks and fighter planes to the Venezuelan border 
with Colombia following the Colombian cross-border raid into 
Ecuador that killed Reyes.  Two FARC fighters were 
apprehended in March while seeking medical treatment in 
Venezuela.  The injured man was taken to a military hospital 
for treatment and his companion to a regional penitentiary. 
By May however, Venezuelan authorities could not account for 
the whereabouts of either man. 
 
Chavez reversed his policy towards Colombian guerrillas in 
June and called upon the FARC to unconditionally release all 
hostages announcing armed struggle is "out of place" in 
modern Latin America.  FARC chief of borders and finance, 
Gabriel Culma Ortiz, was detained by the Venezuelan National 
Guard in July and turned over to Colombian authorities. 
 
The FARC, ELN and right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of 
Colombia (AUC) regularly crossed into Venezuelan territory to 
rest and regroup as well as to extort protection money and 
kidnap Venezuelans to finance their operations. 
 
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign 
Assets Control (OFAC) in June designated diplomat Ghazi Nasr 
al Din and travel impresario Fawzi Kan'an as Venezuelan 
Hizballah supporters.  In September, OFAC designated two 
senior Venezuelan government officials, Hugo Armando Carvajal 
Barrios and Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva, and the former 
Justice and Interior Minister, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, for 
materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of 
the FARC.  It remained unclear to what extent the Venezuelan 
government provided support to Colombian terrorist 
operations.  However, limited amounts of weapons and 
ammunition, some from official Venezuelan stocks and 
facilities, have turned up in the hands of Colombian 
terrorist organizations.  The Venezuelan government did not 
systematically police the 1,400-mile Venezuelan-Colombian 
border to prevent the movement of groups of armed terrorists 
or to interdict arms or the flow of narcotics. 
 
In another case, two self-proclaimed Islamic extremists were 
sentenced in December to 10 years each for placing a pair of 
pipe bombs outside the American Embassy in 2006.  JosQ Miguel 
Rojas Espinoza was found guilty of constructing and placing 
the devices while Teodoro Rafael Darnott was culpable for 
planning the attack and instigating Rojas to carry it out. 
 
Iran and Venezuela continued weekly Iran Airlines flights 
connecting Tehran and Damascus with Caracas.  Passengers on 
these flights were reportedly only subject to cursory 
immigration and customs controls at Simon Bolivar 
International Airport.  Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and 
travel documents remained easy to obtain, making Venezuela a 
potentially attractive way station for terrorists. 
International authorities remained suspicious of the 
integrity of Venezuelan documents and their issuance process. 
 
End Text 
 
CAULFIELD