Venezuela wants US and EU to remove FARC and ELN from terrorist status

FROM A
DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock

Financial Crime Consultant, for World-Check

11 January 2008

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias, in his annual State of the Nation address to the country's congress, asked that both the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, the ELN be removed from American and European Union terrorist blacklists. Chavez said that these designated terrorist organisations are true "insurgent" armies, not terrorists, that they are respected in Venezuela, and that the global community should recognise them. It is unknown whether this amounts to the functional equivalent of recognition, by Venezuela, of the FARC and ELN as legitimate entities. How will the US and the EU respond to this action, and should they? Is this state-sponsored terrorism, terrorist financing, or both?

Perhaps a few disturbing but relevant facts are in order here:

The FARC and ELN have been allowed direct access to Venezuela's financial system for years. Will this blunt, official confirmation of the cozy relationship these two global terrorist organisations enjoy in Venezuela force US regulators to finally recognise this embarrassing fact by imposing sanctions upon those banks that participate by denying them further access to the US financial system for rendering financial suppprt to terrorism?

The FARC have been evading the Colombian armed forces for years by sheltering in base camps that are sanctuaries on the Venezuelan side of the border. In truth and in fact, the entire FARC senior leadership generally stay in these camps, avoiding capture. These facts are common knowledge in Venezuela, but are not publicised in international media, many of whom have some sort of romanticised view of the FARC and ELN as 'freedom fighters." They are common criminals and terrorists.

Two long-term prisoners may have been released, but the FARC and ELN still hold an estimated 2000 more, under inhumane conditions, with many kidnapped purely for ransom. The homicides and human rights violations regularly committed by these terrorist groups precludes their de-designation as terrorists.

Military experts have been warning for some time about the distinct possibility that the Chavezw government, allied with the FARC and ELN, with logistical support from the friendly government in Ecuador, will eventually bring Panama under its sphere of influence, and launch an invasion of Colombia. Chavez' vision of a reunification of countries that once constituted the original Gran Colombia of the early nineteenth century would become a reality when the Colombian armed forces are defeated by a war on several fronts at once. A regional conflict could result if the US goes to aid its only regional Latin American ally in the global war on terrorism, Colombia.

Venezuelan financial intercourse with Iran, a designated state sponsor of both terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, has increased exponentially each year. There are obvious multiple OFAC violations occurring each day , and counter-terrorism sanctions are often employed by US regulators against targets who are guilty of egregious conduct.

If de facto recognition of these terrorist organisations by Venezuela occurs, will that place the country's banks and non-bank financial institutions at risk with respect to OFAC violations when they conduct "routine" business for the FARC and ELN?

Looking ahead to 2009 and beyond, and bearing in mind the deteriorating nature of US-Venezuelan relations, financial professionals assigned to risk-based programmes should now look at the need to create a contingency plan, to be implemented in the event that any degree of sanctions are entered against high-level Venezuelan officials, government-controlled companies, or even financial institutions, as they all have a substantial financial presence outside Venezuela. Frankly, reviewing all accounts to cull out Venezuelan nationals, or companies beneficially owned by Venezuelans, for account closure decisions, would be a logistical nightmare, but what else can US and EU bankers do if sanctions are entered?

The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.

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