Venezuela arrests FARC's man in Europe

Over the weekend, Venezuela arrested Joaquin Perez Becerra, alias Alberto Martinez. He was a key FARC operative in Europe, running the ANNCOL website among other pro-FARC media outlets and doing some of the FARC's lobbying to get itself removed from the EU's list of terrorist organizations. Media coverage: LA Times, AP, Telesur.

Some notes on this arrest

1) The rumor in the media is that Perez was on his way to Venezuela to meet with FARC leader Timochenko. Readers of Southern Pulse saw an analysis of the FARC in Venezuela last week that mentioned Timochenko is likely inside Venezuelan territory along with Ivan Marquez and Grannobles. Both Colombia and Venezuela are denying the rumors that the Timochenko meeting was going to take place inside Venezuelan territory, but that is likely just a face saving measure for both government and part of the good public relations that Santos is trying to maintain with Chavez.

2) The INTERPOL arrest warrant is largely based on evidence obtained from the Raul Reyes computers that show Perez received FARC money and took FARC orders during communications with the group's leadership. So Chavez, who once denounced the laptops and INTERPOL's verification of the data on those laptops has now made an arrest based on the evidence found within.

3) The pro-FARC "Bolivarian" media in Europe and in Latin America are absolutely furious at Chavez for this arrest and extradition. Online, they are calling Chavez a coward and questioning the corruption in the revolution, wondering why Chavez has sold out his ideals to Santos. The fact the Venezuela government statement on the matter called the arrest part of the fight against terrorism was an added blow to Perez, who has a main media objective of getting the media and politicians to stop using the term "terrorists" when referring to the FARC.

4) This arrest happened after a personal phone call from Santos to Chavez to inform the Venezuelan president that the FARC operative was on an inbound flight from Germany. Now, it could just be that Santos and Chavez are buddies and are working hard to maintain good relations. But in reality, Santos has something that Chavez really wants: Makled. The Venezuelan drug trafficker, with all his information about corruption within Chavez's military and civilian government bureaucracy, is still sitting in a Colombian jail with his extradition a bit delayed. Over the past months, Santos has managed to extract good behavior and some key concessions from Chavez. Sure, Santos's agreement has angered some sectors of the Republican Party in the US, but given what Santos has gotten from Chavez, now including the arrest extradition of the FARC's main guy in Europe, it's certainly a worthwhile deal for Colombia.

Source: http://www.bloggingsbyboz.com/2011/04/venezuela-arrests-farcs-man-in-europe.html

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