SHARE
COPY LINK

COLOMBIA

Swede deported over Colombia FARC links

A 54-year-old Swedish man has been deported from Venezuela to Colombia on suspicion of being the head of the FARC in Europe, according to a Reuters news agency report.

The Swede landed in Colombia in a police aircraft late on Monday night, according to Anders Jörle at the Swedish foreign ministry.

“We have had contact with the authorities in Bogota and something equating to a remand hearing is to be held on Tuesday, local time,” he said.

“The embassy has staff in attendance at the hearing. There is a lawyer there as well, but that is not arranged by us, the man has been given a public attorney.”

Sweden is following the case and the embassy in Bogota, which covers both Venezuela and Colombia, has contacted the Colombian authorities. The foreign ministry has to ensure that he is given due legal process, Jörle said.

“The Colombian authorities have been unusually cautious with details in this case. They would normally inform us about detained Swedes.”

“We can not get involved in the actual case but we can demand consular access to the man in order to, among other things, provide him with legal help.”

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been frosty for some years. Part of the reasons behind the conflict have been connected to the FARC guerilla.

The Colombian government has argued that Venezuela has allowed FARC forces to hide in its territory.

But in recent years the two ideologically opposed regimes in Bogota and Caracas have conducted a thaw in their relations since the election of a new president in Colombia last year – Juan Manuel Santos.

The deportation on Monday night was the result of a telephone call between Santos and his colleague Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Reuters reported. Santos asked Chavez to allow the arrest of the Swede.

The man is suspected of having financed the FARC’s operations, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

The man flew from Stockholm to Venezuela via Frankfurt on Saturday.

Evidence in the form of hundreds of emails are reported to have been found in a computer which belonged to the rebel leader Raul Reyes, who was killed in Ecuador in 2008.

El Tiempo maintains that the Swede has been active in FARC for over 30 years, although relatives of the man deny these claims, according to Sveriges Radio’s Ekot news programme.

The man became a Swedish citizen in 1995, having arrived in Sweden as a refugee a couple of years before. In Sweden he has had responsibility for a Colombian website.

Over the past ten years the man has made several visits to a number of FARC camps.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

VENEZUELA

Venezuela’s Maduro hails start of Norway-brokered talks with opposition

President Nicolas Maduro welcomed Friday the "beginning of talks" with the Venezuelan opposition in Norway, after months of bloody clashes between the two sides.

Venezuela's Maduro hails start of Norway-brokered talks with opposition
Photo: AFP

“The talks have begun nicely to move toward agreements of peace, agreement and harmony, and I ask for the support of all Venezuelan people to advance on the path of peace,” Maduro said in a declaration at a ceremony in front of 6,500 troops in the northern state of Aragua.

Confronted with the worst socio-economic crisis in the oil-producing country's recent history, the socialist leader added that “Venezuela has to process its conflicts” and seek solutions “by way of peace.”

He declared the “beginning and exploration of conversations and dialogues” with the opposition.

Maduro's depiction of the talks was at odds with opposition leader Juan Guaido who Thursday denied they were underway.

“There is no negotiation whatsoever,” Guaido made clear in comments to reporters. Instead, Norwegian officials were “trying to mediate” with both sides to bring them to the table.

Friday's ceremony in Aragua was attended by Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez and Miranda state Governor Hector Rodriguez, the government's representatives in the Oslo talks.

Maduro hailed the “good news” hours after Norway reported on preliminary contacts between the parties.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza gave the first official confirmation from Caracas of its involvement in what Norway referred to as exploratory discussions in Oslo.

The mediation bid comes after a months-long power struggle between National Assembly leader Guaido and the socialist president, with sometimes deadly street clashes.

Maduro on Thursday made no direct reference to the meetings, but said Rodriguez was “on a very important mission for peace in the country… in Europe.”

So far, details of the exact process underway in Oslo have been scant.

Norway's foreign ministry said in a statement it had made “preliminary contacts with representatives of the main political actors of Venezuela.”

These were “part of an exploratory phase, with the aim of contributing to finding a solution to the situation in the country,” it added.

The opposition said it was being represented by National Assembly vice president Stalin Gonzalez and former lawmaker Gerardo Blyde.

US-backed Guaido is recognized by dozens of countries as interim president after dismissing Maduro's presidency as “illegitimate” following his re-election last year in polls widely dismissed as rigged.

Maduro has been shunned by much of the international community for presiding over the country's economic collapse, which has led to shortages of basic goods — forcing millions to flee — as well as brutally suppressing dissent.

He retains the backing of major creditors Russia, China and Cuba, as well as the powerful military.

Shortages of basic goods have forced millions to flee Venezuela.