CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday said two former FARC commanders from neighboring Colombia whose whereabouts are unknown were “welcome in Venezuela,” a statement likely to fuel criticism that he is providing a safe haven for armed groups.

Speaking alongside Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the closing ceremony of the Sao Paulo Forum, a gathering of regional leftist politicians and activists, Maduro called Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich “leaders of peace.”

Santrich and Marquez – the war aliases used by Seuxis Paucias Hernandez and Luciano Marin, respectively – both joined the FARC’s political party after the leftist rebel group demobilized under a 2016 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

But Marquez went missing last year after his nephew was arrested and taken to the United States to cooperate with drug-trafficking investigators. And earlier this month, Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Santrich’s arrest after he failed to appear for questioning about U.S. drug-trafficking charges.

Colombian President Ivan Duque later suggested Santrich may have fled to Venezuela. Maduro said he had learned of Santrich’s possible presence in Venezuela from Duque’s statement.

“They had announced that Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich were coming, and I was left waiting,” Maduro said. “Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich are welcome in Venezuela and at the Sao Paulo Forum, the two of them are leaders of peace.”

Colombian authorities believe dissident FARC rebels and fighters for leftist rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) are hiding in Venezuela and receiving protection from Maduro, according to a military intelligence report seen by Reuters. Maduro’s government has denied protecting Colombian rebels.

Tensions between the neighboring countries have worsened since Duque joined the United States and most Latin American countries in recognizing Juan Guaido, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, as the rightful leader, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

Maduro, who calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota in February after Guaido’s failed attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela through the Colombian border.

Maduro also said that two other FARC leaders, Timochenko and Pablo Catatumbo, were welcome in Venezuela. </s> Colombian President Ivan Duque accused his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro Monday of committing an act of "stupidity" by offering refuge to two of his country's former left-wing guerrilla leaders.

Maduro angered Duque on Sunday when he said that missing Colombian former FARC rebels Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich were "welcome" in Venezuela and that he considered them "leaders of peace."

Bogota has long accused Caracas of harboring guerrillas and drug-traffickers, a charge the Venezuelan authorities deny.

Marquez, whose whereabouts are unknown, was the chief negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the historic December 2016 peace accord that ended a half century of armed conflict with the communist rebels.

Santrich disappeared earlier this month after failing to show up in court to testify about an alleged attempt to sell cocaine.

The Colombian Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant for Santrich and the government has offered an almost $1 million reward for information that leads to his capture.

The country hopes to extradite him to the United States where he is wanted for drug trafficking.

"Once again he (Maduro) has committed an act of stupidity by continuing to protect terrorism," Duque, who is on a state visit to China, said in a presidential statement.

Both Marquez and Santrich, whose real name is Seuxis Paucias Hernandez, were due to take up seats in parliament in July 2018.

Marquez refused to take his seat, accusing the government of Duque's predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, who signed the accord, of "betrayal" for making changes to the agreement.

Santrich was unable to take his seat while in prison, but after his release finally took the oath last month before then going into hiding.

Duque, who took office last August, was elected on a promise to modify the peace accord, which he considers too lenient to ex-fighters guilty of serious crimes.

Caracas broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia in February over Duque's support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. </s> CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday said two former FARC commanders from neighboring Colombia whose whereabouts are unknown were “welcome in Venezuela,” a statement likely to fuel criticism that he is providing a safe haven for armed groups.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks at a meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, July 28, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

Speaking alongside Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the closing ceremony of the Sao Paulo Forum, a gathering of regional leftist politicians and activists, Maduro called Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich “leaders of peace.”

Santrich and Marquez - the war aliases used by Seuxis Paucias Hernandez and Luciano Marin, respectively - both joined the FARC’s political party after the leftist rebel group demobilized under a 2016 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

But Marquez went missing last year after his nephew was arrested and taken to the United States to cooperate with drug-trafficking investigators. And earlier this month, Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Santrich’s arrest after he failed to appear for questioning about U.S. drug-trafficking charges.

Colombian President Ivan Duque later suggested Santrich may have fled to Venezuela. Maduro said he had learned of Santrich’s possible presence in Venezuela from Duque’s statement.

“They had announced that Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich were coming, and I was left waiting,” Maduro said. “Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich are welcome in Venezuela and at the Sao Paulo Forum, the two of them are leaders of peace.”

Colombian authorities believe dissident FARC rebels and fighters for leftist rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) are hiding in Venezuela and receiving protection from Maduro, according to a military intelligence report seen by Reuters. Maduro’s government has denied protecting Colombian rebels.

Tensions between the neighboring countries have worsened since Duque joined the United States and most Latin American countries in recognizing Juan Guaido, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, as the rightful leader, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

Maduro, who calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota in February after Guaido’s failed attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela through the Colombian border.

Maduro also said that two other FARC leaders, Timochenko and Pablo Catatumbo, were welcome in Venezuela. </s> BOGOTA: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has turned his country into a terrorist sanctuary and committed the grave error of protecting guerrilla groups and drug traffickers, Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Monday, as tensions between the neighbouring countries escalated once again.

The comments came after Maduro said on Sunday that two missing former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commanders sought by Colombian judicial authorities were “welcome in Venezuela.” Tensions have worsened since Duque joined the United States and most Latin American countries in recognising Juan Guaido, president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, as the country’s rightful leader, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

“What we are seeing is that not only has [Maduro] harboured Colombian terrorists for many years, but he ratifies more and more that Venezuela is a sanctuary for terrorists and drug traffickers,” Duque said in Shanghai, China, where he is on an official visit.

Maduro said over the weekend that Seuxis Paucias Hernandez and Luciano Marin, known respectively by their nom de guerres Jesus Santrich and Ivan Marquez, were “leaders of peace.” Santrich and Marquez both joined the FARC’s political party after the leftist rebel group demobilised under a 2016 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. They were set to serve in congressional seats reserved for the group.

But Marquez went missing last year after his nephew was arrested and taken to the United States to cooperate with drug-trafficking investigators.

Earlier this month Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Santrich’s arrest after he failed to appear for questioning about US drug-trafficking charges.

“There is not one doubt that Santrich is protected by that dictatorial regime,” Duque said of Venezuela. “This is one more motivation to keep strengthening the diplomatic blockade.”

Duque has repeatedly said Santrich might have fled to Venezuela. Maduro said on Sunday he had learned of Santrich’s possible presence in Venezuela from Duque’s statement.

Colombian authorities believe dissident FARC rebels, who did not demobilise under the peace accord, and fighters for the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group hide in Venezuela and receive protection from Maduro. Maduro’s government has denied protecting rebels.

Maduro, who calls Guaido a US puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota in February after Guaido’s failed attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela via the Colombian border. </s> Venezuela’s disputed President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday that he expected missing FARC leaders to attend a public event in the capital Caracas on Sunday, but never came.

Maduro made his comments at the end of the Sao Paulo Forum, an annual summit of leftist parties and groups that was held in the Venezuelan capital this year.

“They told me ‘Ivan Marquez‘ and ‘Jesus Santrich‘ were going to come, but I was left waiting,” the authoritarian leader said.

Santrich became an international fugitive last month after he surprisingly disappeared and failed to appear before the Supreme Court to defend himself against a vague US drug trafficking charge.

Evading justice or death? Colombia’s former rebel leaders in hiding

Marquez went off the grid last year already, but is a free man until Colombia’s war crimes tribunal establishes he is in violation of the 2016 peace deal between the former guerrilla group and former President Juan Manuel Santos.

Leaving Colombia’s national territory would be such a violation, but Maduro said that both Santrich and Marquez “are welcome” to his country “whenever they want.”

The Venezuelan president’s comments contradict those of his Colombian counterpart, Ivan Duque, who earlier this month claimed that he “believed” the two FARC leaders were in Venezuela under the protection of Maduro’s “dictatorship.”

Duque, whose far-right party fiercely opposes the peace process, is the ideological opposite of of the radically left-wing Maduro. Both leaders share authoritarian tendencies and have been accused that their power is enforced by violent paramilitary groups.

The apparent no show of the former guerrilla leaders in Caracas maintains the uncertainty about their whereabouts, or whether they are alive or dead. </s> The embattled leader invited two senior figures of FARC – also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – to his country. Speaking alongside Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at a socialist forum, Mr Maduro called Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich “leaders of peace". The two former commanders went missing after being accused of drug-trafficking charges in the US – and Venezuela may risk a furious response from Washington as well as Colombia if they are found in the country.

Colombia President Ivan Duque claimed two weeks ago without evidence that three missing FARC leaders were in Venezuela under Mr Maduro’s protection. He added: “I believe that Jesus Santrich is being protected in Venezuela. “He did not present himself when he was summoned by justice and, because of the proximity of that place where he was, he quite surely is in Venezuela today with the protection of the government. “Over there in Venezuela are Ivan Marquez, El Paisa, Romaña and they are not playing with dolls over there, they are protected by the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro.”

However, Mr Maduro claimed his innocence with a jibe at his Colombian counterpart. He said: “They had announced that Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich were coming, and I was left waiting. “Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich are welcome in Venezuela and at the Sao Paulo Forum, the two of them are leaders of peace.” He also claimed that two other FARC leaders, Timochenko and Pablo Catatumbo, were welcome. This is not the first time that the two nations have clashed over the alleged harbouring of FARC personnel, though. Until 2016, FARC was a guerilla movement which took on the Colombian state and right-wing paramilitary groups. It aimed to seize power through armed revolution until 2016, when it demobilised and became a political party instead.

During their time as a military operation, however, they received great support from Mr Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. The infamous 2008 ‘FARC files’ revealed that Mr Chavez was actively permitting safe havens for militants. It has led the Colombian state to believe that FARC dissidents who refused to demobilise are now taking refuge in neighbouring Venezuela. The US, who actively supported the Colombian state against FARC with millions in aid, may also condemn Mr Maduro’s words – and could use them as an excuse to impose more sanctions or take even more drastic action. </s> ARAUCA/CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Venezuela’s crisis is spilling across the border into Colombia as Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries recruit migrants to strengthen their ranks, according to five Colombian military commanders.

FILE PHOTO: People walk along a pathway near the Colombian-Venezuelan border on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia June 10, 2019. REUTERS/Juan Pablo Bayona/File Photo

Violence still simmers in Colombia despite a 2016 peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, meant to end five decades of conflict. Dissident FARC fighters, the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN), right-wing paramilitaries and drug-trafficking gangs are battling each other and the military.

Keen for recruits, these armed groups are targeting Venezuelans as they traverse the porous 2,219-km (1,380-mile)frontier at illegal border crossings, according to the military officials, human rights officials and migrants themselves.

Five military commanders told Reuters that as many as 30% of insurgents in Colombia’s eastern border region are Venezuelans, willing to take up arms in return for food and pay.

“Recruitment of Venezuelans is happening,” said Colonel Arnulfo Traslavina, military commander of a special unit battling armed groups in Colombia’s eastern border state of Arauca. “The ranks of illegal armed groups are increasing. It’s a major threat to Colombia.”

Nationwide, an estimated 10% of fighters are Venezuelan, the commanders said. Their estimates were based on information from informants, deserters, captured rebels and residents.

Reuters was not able to independently verify these figures.

The head of Colombia’s military and government spokesman on this issue, General Luis Fernando Navarro, told Reuters that armed groups were targeting Venezuelans because they were easier to recruit than Colombians.

At the last official count by military intelligence in May, there were 2,296 FARC dissident combatants and 2,402 fighters from the ELN in Colombia. Including their urban offshoots, the two groups total nearly 8,400 members.

Rebel numbers are small compared with the 250,000 combat troops in the armed forces but Colombia’s rugged jungle terrain - spread across a country the size of France and Spain - makes it difficult for the military to tackle small, mobile units of fighters.

The military officers say they had interrogated some Venezuelans who had defected from armed groups and identified Venezuelan nationals killed in combat. They did not provide a total number for Venezuelan casualties.

Reuters was not able independently to confirm the information provided by the commanders or speak directly to any Venezuelans who had been recruited by an armed group.

Several Venezuelan migrants told Reuters they had been approached by armed groups for recruitment on entering Colombia.

“They said I’d get clothes, food, money, accommodation, a cell phone,” said Gregorio, a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant who said he was asked to join an unspecified group in the mountains as soon as he waded across the Tachira River onto Colombian soil.

“I was tempted, but scared... I’d been told there were bad people offering such things and I didn’t want to join,” said Gregorio, who declined to give his second name for fear of reprisals.

An estimated 1.3 million Venezuelan migrants have settled in Colombia in recent years, fleeing shortages of food, electricity and water as the South American nation has seen its economy unravel amid a bloody political confrontation.

Most Venezuelans do not come to Colombia to enlist in insurgent groups but with almost nothing in their pockets, the prospect of food and shelter is enticing, said Deisson Marino, human rights ombudsman for the border region of Arauca.

“They end up enrolled in a war that has nothing to do with them,” said Marino, whose job involves traveling to remote areas and speaking to victims of the conflict and armed groups.

RECRUITING IN VENEZUELA

Colombia’s Defense Minister Guillermo Botero has said the military has more than doubled operations against armed groups since President Ivan Duque took office in August, looking to tackle a rise in illicit drug production and trafficking. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine.

“The ELN has been retreating - at least its leadership - to Venezuela where it’s recruiting for greater strength, to attack us,” Botero said recently.

A FARC dissident, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the group was also present on Venezuelan soil and was recruiting Venezuelans.

The Venezuelan information ministry - which handles media enquiries for the government - did not respond to a request for comment about the conscription of Venezuelans by Colombia’s armed groups.

Venezuela’s government has acknowledged that the ELN and dissident FARC are present on its territory. It has said it does not support the groups or tolerate their presence, and that its troops pursue them as they would any other illegal group.

Representatives of the ELN did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The FARC, which became a political party after the peace deal and kept its former acronym, has publicly expelled the armed dissidents.

Since it was founded in 1964, the ELN has funded itself from kidnapping, drug trafficking and extortion but is increasingly making money from illegal migration, the officials said.

Military officials and rights workers say the ELN and colectivos - shadowy irregular armed groups in Venezuela affiliated with President Nicolas Maduro’s Socialist Party - control most of the crossing points into Colombia and demand payment from migrants and traders.

PICKING COCA

Army Colonel Rodolfo Morales, head of the army’s 30th Brigade in the border town of Cucuta, said migrants were also being drafted by drug trafficking groups to pick coca, the raw material for cocaine.

Antonio, another Venezuelan migrant who declined to give his second name, said that after crossing the border he was offered money by unidentified men to go into the jungles around Tibu - a border town around 115 km north of Cucuta in the dangerous Catatumbo region - to pick coca leaves.

“I’d rather go hungry than go with them,” said the 33-year old from the central Venezuelan state of Carabobo.

Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary groups, which battled the ELN and FARC for decades, are also recruiting migrants, the military officials said.

The paramilitaries were behind most of the 260,000 killings that occurred during the nation’s half-century conflict and never fully demobilized under a 2006 peace agreement.

Slideshow (2 Images)

Eddinson, 26, a migrant from Venezuela’s coastal state of Aragua, said he and three other Venezuelans were approached by armed men who identified themselves as paramilitaries as they trekked through the mountains of Santander province near the border.

Eddinson said the leader of the eight armed men - who were dressed in khaki uniforms - tried to recruit them.

“He said that training would last six months. We’d be given salaries according to rank,” said Eddinson, adding that he and the other Venezuelans declined the offer. “He told us that we’d know our start date but not when we could leave.” </s> In his inaugural address, President Ivan Duque says he will take steps to fix 'structural flaws' in the deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia's new President Ivan Duque took office Tuesday, August 7, with no shortage of tough issues to tackle, from heightened tensions with neighboring Venezuela to the lingering difficulties of peace-building with the nation's rebel groups.

The right-wing Duque, who is just 42 years old, succeeds Juan Manuel Santos – and could work to undo the deal his predecessor reached with leftist FARC guerrillas to end a half-century of conflict.

Wearing a sash in the country's national colors, Duque took the oath of office in Bolivar Square in historic Bogota in the presence of several regional leaders including Mexico's Enrique Peña Nieto and Ecuador's Lenin Moreno.

In his inaugural address, he said he will take steps to fix "structural flaws" in the deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), without offering concrete details.

"We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations – and no repetitions" of the past, said Duque, a lawyer by training and a former senator.

Duque said he will also take a tougher tack in talks with the country's last active rebel group, the Marxist ELN, to ensure that a "credible process" is put in place so that that the group ceases all criminal activity within a set time limit.

Colombia's political left, defeated in June elections, protested as Duque took office, demanding justice for the more than 330 rights activists murdered since the December 2016 peace accord with the FARC.

Observers agree that Duque's success will depend in large part on his connection to popular former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), who handpicked the political novice to help the right – which opposed the FARC deal – regain power.

"His mentor's situation and relations with Venezuela are the keys" to Duque's presidency, political scientist Diana Avellaneda from Javeriana University told Agence France-Presse.

Relations with Caracas took a dive over the weekend when Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have been the victim of an "assassination" attempt – and put the blame on Santos, "ultra right-wing" domestic opponents and the US.

Duque looks set to stand up to Colombia's neighbor to the east, demanding "free elections" following a May poll that saw Maduro re-elected, which was boycotted by Venezuela's opposition.

He hinted at a tough line against Maduro, saying Colombia "will reject any sort of dictatorship on the continent."

The neighbors share a 2,200-kilometer (1,400 miles) long border that is hard to police.

Bogota has accused Caracas of harboring Marxist rebels, while hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have crossed the border to escape food and medicine shortages, failing public services and hyperinflation in their homeland.

If Duque "starts answering everything Maduro says... he will add fuel to the propaganda and political fire to keep ratcheting up the tension," said international relations expert Jairo Velasquez.

The analyst added that the new Colombian leader could become Venezuela's "enemy, real or imagined."

Peace with rebels? Not so fast

At home, Duque's firebrand rhetoric has increased tension and rocked already fragile relations with rebels, both former and current.

He has long criticized the FARC deal as being too lenient in allowing former rebels accused of atrocities to serve as lawmakers.

Ending 50 years of conflict that has cost the lives of 260,000 people and left more than 7 million displaced is no easy undertaking.

But Duque – with Uribe's backing – has made it clear he thinks the deal is deeply flawed.

Meanwhile, Santos – who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the FARC deal – admitted defeat in his bid to negotiate a ceasefire with the ELN, despite making "significant progress."

Duque made it clear that further progress will not come easy.

While his tough stance on peace may give Duque headaches upon taking office, he could also suffer from the rug supporting his political ambitions being wrenched out from under him.

As the hand-picked choice of Uribe, he enjoys considerable support from the powerful Democratic Center party his mentor launched.

But the 66-year-old Uribe, now a senator, is accused of witness interference and faces a Supreme Court investigation, and an uncertain political future.

At least Duque can call on strong regional ties amidst a recent upsurge in the fortunes of the political right on the continent, notably in Argentina, Chile and Peru. Brazil may follow suit in October.

But in addition to woes with Venezuela to the east, all is not serene on Colombia's southern border, where Ecuador has been angered over the drug-trafficking violence spilling across its frontier.

In Colombia, some 209,000 hectares (516,500 acres) of land are used to grow coca, the principal ingredient used to manufacture cocaine. Colombia is the largest cocaine producer in the world. – Rappler.com </s> The 42-year-old conservative lawyer and former senator won an election in June, beating left-wing rival Gustavo Petro, and now replaces outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos.

“I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming left and right divisions,” Duque said in his inaugural address in Bogota. “I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never destroying.”

He faces immediate challenges: the economy is weak, drug trafficking gangs have moved into areas once controlled by FARC guerrillas, and nearly a million Venezuelan refugees have crossed into Colombia. Tensions with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro have increased.

Duque has strongly criticised the peace deal negotiated in 2016 to bring an end to the country’s 50-year internal conflict, which saw thousands of rebels demobilise in return for amnesty. Although the FARC leadership will be tried for war crimes, he is angry they will not serve jail time before taking up 10 guaranteed congressional seats.

However, he has softened his rhetoric and says he remains committed to Colombia’s peace process. “We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetitions of the past,” he said in his address.

The FARC is now a political party and several members have taken seats in parliament as part of the peace terms.

The new president has not specified what changes he would make to the agreement. Substantive measures might be hard to get through Congress which has broadly backed the deal. Santos has urged his successor to respect it.

Duque can count on continued support from the United States, said the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

His economic policy is considered business-friendly: the new leader has said he plans to cut taxes, raise revenue from a crackdown on evasion, and respect rules obliging the government to reduce the budget deficit.

Ivan Duque is a protege of Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the country from 2002 to 2010 and is a harsh critic of the peace agreement.
After two FARC leaders go into hiding from drug trafficking charges in Colombia and the United States, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro makes a public statement saying they are welcome to take refuge in his country. He also welcomes other FARC rebels to Venezuela, calling them "leaders of peace".