Colombia’s fight against rebels would be easier without Maduro

BOGOTA: There is “no doubt” it would be easier to combat Colombia’s rebel groups if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were no longer in power, Colombia’s foreign minister said, amid accusations that Caracas is providing the groups with shelter.

On Thursday, former leaders from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced a new offensive in a video believed to have been filmed in Venezuela. Ex-FARC commanders Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich appeared surrounded by armed fighters in a YouTube video, saying a 2016 peace accord had been betrayed.

The announcement was condemned by President Ivan Duque’s government, the United Nations and the FARC political party, whose leadership said the majority of ex-rebels remain committed to peace despite “difficulties and dangers.”

Combating the dissidents, who are estimated to number more than 2,200, and separate rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) would be easier were Maduro no longer in power, Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said in an interview late on Friday.

“This regime protects them: it has opened its doors to them. This regime facilitates their actions from its territory,” said Trujillo. Asked what proof Colombia has of rebel presence in Venezuela, Trujillo said: “There are indicators; there is a hypothesis: that’s the information that we have.”

The United States also believes the Maduro government is providing shelter to dissident FARC and ELN groups, a senior State Department official said. Venezuela’s foreign ministry on Friday blamed the dissident rearmament on Duque’s failure to follow through on the peace accords.

Maduro later tweeted his government was committed to promoting peace in Colombia and would advance efforts to reestablish conversations between the two sides. Neither mentioned the issue of rebel presence in Venezuelan territory.

Trujillo said the neighboring Venezuelan government was a “dictatorship.” “The end of this dictatorship, of this tyranny, would be the best for Venezuela, the best for Colombia, the best for the region,” Trujillo said. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by more than 50 countries as his country’s legitimate leader, is committed to the fight against illegal armed groups, Trujillo said.