Rodrigo Granda is a leading operative in Colombia's oldest rebel group, a man who for years roamed the world drumming up support for his organization, with Colombia's government in hot pursuit.
Yet, for two years before his capture last month in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, he lived comfortably in a two-story house in this picturesque mountain community that is a weekend retreat for Venezuelan army generals, Caracas businessmen and well-off retirees. He came and went freely, ordering construction supplies for his home and frolicking in his pool while still serving as the "foreign minister" for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the authorities in Bogota, Colombia, say. In fact, he had enjoyed the privileges of Venezuelan citizenship and had voted in a recent election.
The revelations about Granda's apparently breezy day-to-day life in Venezuela and the murky operation that led to his capture in Caracas have led to the most serious diplomatic crisis between neighbors who are ideological opposites: the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez and the conservative Colombian administration of President Alvaro Uribe.
The dispute has drawn in the Bush administration, which on Jan. 15 threw its support behind Uribe, Washington's closest ally in Latin America. Then on Tuesday in her Senate confirmation hearing, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state-designate, said that Venezuela's government had been a "negative" force in the region while stifling the opposition at home.
"We are very concerned about a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way, and some of the steps he's taken against the media, against the opposition, I think are really very deeply troubling," Rice said at the hearing.
The comments drew an angry rebuke from Chavez's government, which in August won a landslide election that reinforced Chavez's mandate. The Bush administration's strident opposition has appeared to end any chance that the US could play a role in resolving any crisis involving Chavez's government.
This week, Brazil demonstrated its growing diplomatic assertiveness after announcing that its left-leaning president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is close to Uribe and Chavez, would mediate the crisis.
Chavez's government accused Colombia of having bribed a group of Venezuelan National Guardsmen to arrest Granda on Dec. 13. Saying that Colombia had violated Venezuelan sovereignty, Chavez recalled his ambassador to Bogota, suspended accords and demanded an apology.
Colombia responded defiantly, issuing a presidential bulletin saying it had the right to offer rewards leading to the capture of Colombian rebels, wherever they might hide. Colombia also turned over the names of rebels it says often seek refuge in Venezuela. On Friday, Venezuela said it would investigate.
Colombia said it issued an international arrest warrant for Granda more than a year ago, yet he had been so nonchalant about security that in early December he openly attended two conferences of leftists in Venezuela.
Venezuela says it was never alerted about Granda and contends that his citizenship papers were fraudulent.
Here in Las Mercedes de Tasajera, about two hours southwest of Caracas, residents, local residents remember Granda simply as the Colombian, a man who was not averse to meeting and talking to his neighbors but who revealed little about himself.
"He talked to a lot of people," said Daniel Lopez, a retired businessman who has lived here for 30 years. "He was very courteous, very educated, but also quiet about his ways."
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image