Bush looks into terror list for Venezuela

Posted on Mon, Mar. 10, 2008

Bush looks into terror list for Venezuela

By PABLO BACHELET

A senior government official has confirmed that the Bush administration has asked its lawyers to look into what gets a country on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The inquiry follows allegations that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's links with Colombia's FARC guerrillas have been much deeper than previously believed.
The investigation is the first step in a process that could see Venezuela join North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran as countries that have been designated by the State Department as supporters of terrorism.

U.S. laws give leeway to what economic activity is subject to sanctions, but in the extreme, U.S. and many foreign businesses would be forced to sever links with one of the world's largest producers of oil, severely affecting Venezuela's oil trade.

The legal review comes after Colombia captured four computers belonging to a FARC guerrilla leader in a March 1 raid. The documents suggest the Venezuelan government was in the process of providing $300 million in assistance to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which U.S. and Colombian officials call a ''narco-terrorist'' group but Chávez considers a legitimate insurgency.

A senior U.S. administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the subject, said government lawyers had been asked to clarify ''what goes into effect in terms of prohibitions, or prohibited activities'' with the ''state sponsor'' designation.

U.S. officials are reluctant to predict if the FARC computer discoveries will lead to sanctions, noting U.S. investigators must first corroborate their veracity.

If the documents are shown to be true -- the official said the publicly released ones so far looked genuine -- then ``I think it will beg the question of whether or not Venezuela, given Chávez's interactions with the FARC, has . . . crossed the threshold of state sponsor of terror.''

The official said the lawyers had not yet returned with a response.

''It immediately imposes [restrictions] on the abilities of U.S. companies to work in Venezuela,'' said James Lewis, a former State Department arms trafficking expert now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S. companies would be ``forbidden from operating there, forbidden from receiving any money from Venezuela. It would make it very hard for Venezuela to sell oil to the U.S.. All the arrangements we have now where Venezuelan oil is routinely sent to the United States would have to stop.''

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By Simon on Mar 10, 12:20 in Politics & the war.

TioCharlie says on Mar 17, 09:16:

I think that Chavez should be put on the list. The guy is a little nutty and takes every chnce he gets to try to inflate himself both in Latin America and internationally.