Politics
March 8

Spain to intensify investigations into ETA in Venezuela
Francisco Javier Velázquez, the director general of the Spanish police, will travel to Venezuelan to work with Hugo Chávez's government in an investigation of members of the Basque separatist group ETA, said Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

"Venezuela has been one of the countries where some members and supporters of ETA terrorist group have settled," Zapatero said, as reported by AP.

Spain and Venezuela reduced a tense spat on March 6 by issuing a joint statement in which both countries categorically rejected the Basque terrorist group and Venezuela denied any links with Basque separatists after a Spanish judge claimed in a court writ that the Venezuelan government may have collaborated with ETA.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro accused the Colombian government of having aggravated the case in an alleged effort to link Chávez's government with terrorist groups.

"The situation with Spain with regard to the case of the terrorist organization ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been boosted by the Colombian government," Maduro said.

By announcing the dispatch of a top police officer to Venezuela, Zapatero said that his government has pursued and captured members of ETA in Spain and abroad through police and judicial probes that included Venezuela.

Spanish judge Eloy Velasco said in a court writ that the Venezuelan government could have collaborated with ETA. He indicted six members of ETA, most of them exiled in Latin American and seven members of Colombian rebel group FARC on charges including a plot to kill former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana and current President Alvaro Uribe. Velasco identified the suspected ETA member Arturo Cubillas Fontán as a key figure in the relationship between the two groups.

Judge Velasco said in the document that there is evidence that Cubillas Fontán was also the head of ETA in Venezuela, where he lives. Cubillas Fontán was hired by a Venezuelan Ministry and could still be a member of Chávez's government, Velasco said.

The alleged ETA member is married to Venezuelan citizen Goizeder Odriozola, a Venezuelan journalist who is a spokeswoman at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.

Chávez said recently that "the Spanish government's response has been acceptable. They said that they have requested information, they did not ask us for an explanation." However, President Chávez still had not referred to the accusations according to which Cubillas Fontán worked in the government.

Spanish judges demand respect for their job in ETA-FARC case
The General Council for the Judiciary (CGPJ), the governing body of Spanish judges, demanded on March 8 "the greatest national and international respect" to its independence and jurisdictional activities after statements made by political leaders about some judges.

In an institutional statement, the CGPJ expressed its position on "reports, comments and opinions" that Spanish and foreign politicians have issued in recent days about the reasons why the Spanish High Court is charging Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón and the indictment in which judge Eloy Velasco reported evidence of Venezuela's government cooperation with the Basque separatist group ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Efe reported.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said on weekend that the Spanish judge Eloy Velasco was linked to the "mafia" led by former Prime Minister José María Aznar "and to the worst members of the People's Party (PP)," the main opposition party in Spain.

Moratinos backs Judge Velasco, Aznar
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Ángel Moratinos expressed on March 8 his support to Judge Eloy Velasco of the Spanish National Court, and to former head of government José María Aznar, previously lambasted by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro.

The senior officer also reported on the delivery to Caracas of the Judge's indictment related to Basque terrorist group ETA and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).

Moratinos told Efe that both the judiciary and the head of government are two institutions that count on the "maximum support" of the Spanish Executive branch of government.

In this way, the Spanish FM replied to the comments made by his Venezuelan counterpart, who said that Judge Velasco was linked with Aznar's "mafia."

March 9

Zapatero requests Chávez's government to respect Spanish judge
Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero asked Venezuela to "respect" former Prime Minister José María Aznar and the judge of the Spanish National Court, Eloy Velasco, following criticism against them from Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Zapatero told Spanish public television Televisión Española (TVE) that Venezuelan foreign policy chief made "some comments that in my view are not acceptable," as reported by DPA.

"This is not the first time that I have come out in defense of Prime Minister Aznar, precisely with Venezuela," said the Socialist leader referring, without mentioning directly to the verbal confrontation with Hugo Chávez in the Ibero-American Summit held in Chile.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said over the weekend that Spanish judge Eloy Velasco, who issued an indictment in which he apparently established an alleged alliance between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Basque separatist group ETA, was associated to the "mafia" of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, the current leader of the opposition Popular Party.

Spanish ministerial sources said that Maduro's statements had been recorded two days before the joint statement signed on March 6 by the Spanish and Venezuelan governments, Efe reported.

Zapatero also called for cooperation with the Venezuelan government. "Now we must work hard with Venezuela to prevent any ETA members who may be there from getting any kind of support or coverage… I hope to count on Venezuela's government, to which I ask for respect for the judiciary and ex President Aznar."

March 10

People's Party asks Spanish govn't to scrutinize Chávez's "regime"
Guillermo Mariscal, a People's Party deputy for the electoral district of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, said that the Spanish government needs to "scrutinize, and monitor Hugo Chávez's regime and impose some sort of sanctions on it."

"We have requested the presence of Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos in the Spanish Parliament to advise of the explanations given by the Venezuelan government that its relations with the (Basque terrorist group) ETA and (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) FARC do not exist," Mariscal said in an interview with Venezuelan radio station Unión Radio.

The deputy of Spain's leading opposition party announced that if Venezuela's relations with the irregular groups are proven, "the Spanish Parliament will seek actions against the government of Hugo Chávez."

Spanish govn't to ask judge for details about ETA-FARC links
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will request Spanish National Court's Judge Eloy Velasco to provide details about his indictment pointing to evidence of Venezuelan government's cooperation with Basque separatist group País Vasco y Libertad (ETA) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and to establish what actions he deems necessary.

Spanish Minister of Justice Francisco Caamaño made the announcement on March 10, Efe reported.

According to Caamaño, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact the judge "because the indictment needs some clarification," and to ask Velasco to explain "the terms of the writ."

Caamaño's statements came after Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos reported on March 10 to the Congress of Deputies that he forwarded a copy of Velasco's indictment to the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.

Rajoy: Venezuela insults Spain and goes unscathed
Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the conservative Spanish People's Party, said on March 10 that Venezuela has insulted Spain and has got away scot-free, whereas Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called for cooperation and a "sense of State" regarding foreign policy issues.

Zapatero and Rajoy debated at the Congress of Deputies the latest developments in Spain's bilateral relations with Cuba and Venezuela: the death of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the indictment issued by a Spanish judge who reported President Hugo Chávez government's alleged ties with Basque separatist group ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Rajoy reiterated his request to summon Venezuela's Ambassador to Spain so that Madrid expresses in writing the discomfort of the Spanish government vis-à-vis Chávez's criticisms of some Spanish authorities.

"If we do not do that, we can convey the idea that anyone can insult Spain or its government and get away scot-free," Rajoy stressed.

March 11

Head of Spanish Police: No news about trip to Venezuela
Francisco Javier Velázquez, the director general of the Spanish police and the Civil Guard, said that "there is no news" about his trip to Caracas in the next few days to cooperate with the government of Hugo Chávez to delve into alleged ties between Spanish terrorist group ETA and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Velázquez said on March 11 in Brussels that the parties are making "all diplomatic efforts to arrange" the trip.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos had said last week that the head of the Spanish police would travel to Caracas once the government of Spain clarifies doubts about the indictment issued by the Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Velasco, in which Velasco said that there was evidence about the Venezuelan government's "cooperation" with ETA and the FARC, Efe reported.

March 12

US Southern Command sees no Venezuela-FARC link
The chief of the US military's Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said that he had not evidence of any links between Venezuela; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Colombian guerrilla group; and the Basque separatist group ETA.

However, he admitted that the US Southern Command is "watching very closely." He did not provide further details of the military monitoring operation in Venezuela, the state-run news agency Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) reported.

"We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection," Fraser said. This was the description he used to refer to the groups which international media have insistently tried to link with the government of President for Hugo Chávez Frías, ABN said.

Fraser's comments were made in a US Senate hearing.

A judge of the Spanish National Court commenced an investigation to establish alleged Venezuela's participation in the relation between the Colombian guerrillas and the Basque separatist group País Vasco y Libertad (ETA).

Spain is certain that Venezuela cooperates in the fight against ETA
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega said on March 12 that Spain has the support of Venezuela in the fight against the armed Basque separatist group ETA, as it occurs with other countries like France or Portugal.

Fernández de la Vega made these remarks during a press conference held after a meeting of the Council of Ministers. The top Spanish official was asked about the detention on March 11 of alleged ETA member Andoni Zengotitabengoa while attempting to board a flight to Venezuela using a fake Mexican passport, Efe reported.

The detention of the suspected ETA member occurs after Judge Eloy Velasco of the Spanish National Court mentioned evidence of cooperation between the Venezuelan government with ETA and the Colombian rebel group FARC.

"We are cooperating and acting in cooperation with all countries, with Portugal, as it has been shown, but also with Venezuela," the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister said.

Foreign Minister: US knows that Venezuela has not ties with FARC and ETA
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro referred to the statements made by the chief of the US Southern Command and said that United States knows that the Venezuelan government "has no ties with the rebel groups such as FARC and ETA."

He said that US authorities act like "schizophrenic" because "the chief of the US Southern Command acknowledges that there is no evidence to link the Venezuelan government with rebel groups, but the US Secretary of State everyday attacks the administration of President Hugo Chávez."

"Who gave the imperialism the right to monitor the internal life of societies in different countries of the world? This is part of an imperial and colonialist law of the past. They have one goal: to try to destroy a revolutionary and independent process. We promote transparent and peaceful relations with world governments," Maduro said.