...

Spain steps up pressure on Venezuela over ETA

Other News Materials 13 October 2010 18:39 (UTC +04:00)
Spain on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Venezuela to either try or hand over an alleged representative of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, DPA reports.
Spain steps up pressure on Venezuela over ETA

Spain on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Venezuela to either try or hand over an alleged representative of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, DPA reports.

Attorney-general Candido Conde-Pumpido urged Caracas to investigate the activities of Arturo Cubillas, a Spanish-born Venezuelan government official who has lived in the Latin American country since 1989.

If there were "rational indications" that Cubillas worked for ETA, Caracas needed to extradite him or put him on trial, the attorney general insisted.

Spain would not "tolerate that terrorism has any kind of international support," Conde-Pumpido warned.

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, meanwhile, said Spain wanted a "definitive answer" from Venezuela on allegations that it protected an alliance between ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Spain would use all available mechanisms to "make (any ETA members) return" from Venezuela, the minister vowed.

Two ETA suspects who were detained in late September said Cubillas had supervised weapons training they received in Venezuela in 2008.

Spanish judge Eloy Velasco earlier issued an arrest warrant for Cubillas. The judge has charged Cubillas and 12 other ETA or FARC suspects with crimes, including plans to kill Colombian politicians in Spain.

However, Caracas has declined to extradite Cubillas on the grounds that Caracas is a Venezuelan citizen.

Venezuelan diplomats and media have suggested that the two ETA suspects who accused Cubillas may have spoken under torture, a charge that Madrid categorically denies.

Cubillas himself recently asked the Venezuelan judiciary to investigate the Spanish charges against him, complaining that they tarnished his reputation.

Venezuela has meanwhile requested that Interpol order the arrest in any country of Nestor Gonzalez, a former Venezuelan general who was implicated in a 2002 coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez, and who is believed to be in exile in some Central American country, the Spanish daily El Pais reported.

Velasco wants to question Gonzalez as a witness on the alleged links between ETA and FARC. Caracas was seeking Gonzalez's arrest in an attempt to block Velasco's probe, Venezuelan opposition representatives claimed in Madrid.

Venezuela, however, denies any links with ETA and attributes such allegations to an international propaganda campaign against Chavez's leftist "revolution."

Venezuela shunned an invitation to participate in Spanish national day military parades alongside several other Latin American countries on Tuesday.

However, the ambassador who would have represented Venezuela attributed his absence to being away from Spain at the time, and described bilateral relations as excellent.

Tags:
Latest

Latest