VENEZUELA GIVING GUNS TO FARC, OFFICIAL SAYS

A U.S. Official Assailed Venezuela For Supporting Colombian Rebels With
Weapons. The Venezuelan Embassy Did Not Respond To The Allegation

WASHINGTON - A top State Department official said Wednesday that Venezuela
is destabilizing its border area with Colombia by supplying weapons to the
country's main leftist insurgency.

Another State Department official later clarified to The Herald that the
statement made by Nicholas Burns, the department's third-ranking official,
to The Associated Press did not refer to the government of President Hugo
Chavez but to Venezuela in general.

Burns said in an interview that the United States is disturbed by what he
described as Venezuela's "massive" arms imports and he expressed hope that
Venezuela "will refrain from giving support to the FARC," referring to
Colombia's oldest and largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia.

Asked if this meant Venezuela has been supporting the FARC with weapons,
Burns said yes.

Bush administration officials have said in the past that weapons are
regularly smuggled from Venezuela to Colombian guerrillas, but stopped far
short of accusing the leftist government of Chavez of doing so as a matter
of policy.

Some of the weapons smuggling has been blamed on Venezuelan police,
soldiers and national guardsmen, but for personal profit.

The Herald reported in 2003 that the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency
had found no evidence that the illegal sale of Venezuelan weapons to
Colombian rebels had risen since Chavez was first elected in 1998. The
agency, in fact, found evidence of a drop in such sales, depending on how
the figures were compared.

Not The Government

Edgar Vasquez, media duty officer at the State Department, clarified that
Burns was referring to "Venezuela, not the government of Venezuela" and
that this was "not inconsistent with what officials have said in the past."

The Venezuelan Embassy did not immediately respond to an AP call seeking
comment.

Burns was the luncheon speaker at a daylong seminar on Colombia sponsored
by private research groups on the eve of a meeting today between President
Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at Bush's Texas ranch.

He underscored U.S. support for Colombia as it attempts to defeat
insurgencies sustained by trafficking in illicit drugs.

"No relationship is more important than Colombia," Burns said in his speech.

Not A Problem

During a question-and-answer session after his speech, Burns suggested that
Venezuela's leftist government does not pose a major problem for the United
States.

"We don't lose any sleep over Venezuela," he said. "Our challenge is not to
react to everything that Mr. Chavez says and does. And he says and does a
lot of things every day. We're not inclined to be provoked."

Burns later called the AP to supplement his remarks on Venezuela.

Several months ago, the administration complained about a planned
Venezuelan purchase of 100,000 rifles from Russia. One concern was that
some of the weapons would end up in FARC hands.

Chavez has said he is neutral on the conflict in Colombia.