Uribe Demands Explanation For
Arrests In Venezuela
By CESAR GARCIA (AP)
BOGOTA — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on
Wednesday protested the arrests of eight
Colombians on spying accusations in
Venezuela, saying his government is
concerned about their treatment.
Uribe told radio station ABC of Barranquilla
that Colombia's foreign ministry will ask
President Hugo Chavez's government to
explain the arrests, and he urged
international human rights groups to monitor
the case.
"We request that the human rights of these
citizens be fully respected," he said.
The arrests have escalated long-standing
tensions between Chavez's socialist
administration and Colombia's U.S.-allied
government.
Chavez said Tuesday that the eight
Colombians were arrested on suspicion of
spying more than a week ago. He said they
had computers and satellite telephones and
were using cameras to take photographs of
Venezuelan power plants.
Chavez said some of those detained carried
identification indicating they are members
of Colombia's military.
Milena Bedoya Giraldo, a daughter of one of
those arrested, said in a telephone
interview from Medellin, where she lives,
that her mother, Elba Giraldo, is not a spy
and lives in Venezuela to work in a family
business that produces ice cream.
Bedoya said her mother's partner, Carlos
Cossio, who also was detained, once worked
years ago for Colombia's military but as a
doctor.
Uribe said Cossio holds dual
Colombian-Canadian citizenship because he
lived in Canada early in the past decade,
and had previously worked as a doctor in a
military unit in Medellin.
Bedoya said she learned about the arrests
from her uncle, Angel Giraldo, who owns the
ice cream factory, and said three cousins
were also detained along with a worker in
the business.
Chavez has called the ice cream business "a
facade."
Venezuela's justice minister, Tareck El
Aissami, said six were detained in the
western state of Barinas and two in northern
Aragua state.
A remark by El Aissami that the suspects'
Colombian nationality was "worrisome"
prompted a rebuke from Uribe, who said being
Colombian had apparently led to a
"presumption of guilt." He called that a
"serious violation of human rights."
Colombia's public ombudsman, Volmar Perez,
said in a statement that 12 other Colombians
also remain jailed in Caracas.
They were detained March 19 at a farm in the
central Venezuelan state of Miranda and
accused of being part of a paramilitary
group. Perez said their relatives in
Colombia accuse the Venezuelan authorities
of detaining them simply because they found
five "old shotguns" on the farm.
Perez called for intervention by the
Organization of American States' human
rights body to protect the rights of
Colombians living in Venezuela.
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