Colombia is preparing to attack Venezuela in an operation that will be made to look like its objective is a base of Colombian guerrillas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said
“They say, and many people believe, there are guerrilla bases in our territory supported by the government,” Chavez said, in a speech to troops today that was shown on state television. “They are preparing the terrain to attack Venezuelan territory, simulating an encampment.”
Chavez said Colombia’s military would justify the attack with lies, making reference to a scandal in the neighboring country that came to be known as the “false positives.” Colombia fired at least 27 officers and soldiers a year ago for allegedly killing poor slum-dwellers and dressing them as guerrillas in an attempt to win benefits from the government, prosecutors alleged.
Speaking at Fort Mara in Zulia state, which he said was on “the front line of this battle,” Chavez said “it wouldn’t be strange” for the Colombian military to build some shacks in an improvised camp and put some rifles and propaganda in it.
“And there it is, an encampment in Venezuela,” he said.
“Our government doesn’t support or permit, and won’t support or permit, the presence of any armed forces in our territory except our glorious Bolivarian Armed Forces,” Chavez said.
A spokesman at Colombia’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Calls to the Colombian embassy in Caracas today went unanswered.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the
copyright owner.
