Growing International Free-For-All, As Charges Mount On Chavez Laundering and Terrorist Ties

By Jonathan Winer

This week, while Venezuelan troops moved towards the Colombian border, and Ecuador broke relations with Colombia, there has been startling new information emerge publiclly about alleged Venezuelan support for terrorist groups, laundering of political funds, and possible efforts on the part of the Colombian terrorist group FARC to build a dirty bomb.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's denials of having moved millions in laundered funds into last fall's Argentine presidential campaign were never especially credible. Now that a Venezuelan businessman has pled guilty in the case, admitting he laundered the campaign funds for President Chavez , the question is what comes next. Three criminal cases remain pending in the matter and the two men who have admitted their guilt are cooperating with U.S. prosecutors. Do they have additional information about state-sponsored laundering in Venezuela, and if so, will it link up with support for terrorist groups?

The question is not academic. This week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has announced he will accuse Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before the International Criminal Court [ICC] for sponsoring terrorist groups like the FARC guerrillas and funding genocides.

Meanwhile, a provocative, and to date, unconfirmed, posting by World Check, a financial intelligence service, alleges that the U.S. Treasury Department has found billions in laundered funds involving senior Venezuelan officials and their associates hidden overseas "on the express orders of President Hugo Chavez," which in turn has also been available for use by some terrorist organizations. World Check has also alleged that the FARC is financially supported by the current Venezuelan Government, and that "captured documents" show that Venezuela has sent millions of dollars to the FARC, the most recent payment having been made in February, 2008, in the amount of $300m.

In March 2007, the U.S. Department of State reported that it "remained unclear to what extent the Venezuelan government provided material support to Colombian terrorists," given that Colombian terrorist organizations had obtained at least limited amounts of weapons and ammunition, including some from official Venezuelan stocks and facilities. State further found that the Venezuelan government had failed to police the 1,400-mile Venezuelan-Colombian border to prevent the movement of groups of armed terrorists or to interdict arms or the flow of narcotics. Shortly, State will issue its newest annual report on counter-terrorism efforts and the terrorist threats, where it could address any new information the U.S. wishes to make public on the Venezuelan money laundering and terrorist finance allegations.

Even as Venezuela was rushing soldiers to its border with Colombia, the Colombians hurled one more incendiary charge: in Geneva, Uribe's vice-president, Francisco Santos, told the UN disarmament conference that captured FARC documents revealed the group was seeking to acquire uranium to build a radioactive "dirty bomb". According to Vice President Santos, on March 3, Colombia's national police submitted an initial report regarding the content of two computers found with Raul Reyes, second in command of FARC, who was killed by Venezuelan forces on March 1 in a cross-border raid inside Ecuador, the incident which prompted Ecuador's breaking of relations.

Given the allegations that the captured FARC computers showed financial support to FARC from Chavez, and Chavez himself expressing sympathy and support for Reyes and his efforts, there's an obvious question about what role if any Venezuela may have played in whatever efforts FARC made to acquire nuclear material for a dirty bomb. Information relevant to that issue may exist in the hard drives of the FARC computers seized by Colombia in connection with the raid that killed Reyes.

While tensions among Venezuela and its neighbors rapidly escalate, any further information about alleged Venezuelan ties to terrorist groups, illicit financial activities, or a terrorist dirty bomb that may emerge can only add fat to an already bubbling fire.

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