President Chávez: "I’m defending peace, not the guerrilla"
January 15, 2008
![President Chávez: "I’m defending peace, not the guerrilla"](/noticias/2008/chavezpeace_71f4.jpg "President Chávez: "I’m defending peace, not the guerrilla"")
During his weekly TV and radio show, President Chávez highlighted that this request must be analyzed, not demonized in publications trying to confuse people.
As an example of this media war, he mentioned an op-ed published on Sunday by the newspaper ABC in Spain, where it reads “Chávez is the FARC’s advocate,” thus claiming that the Bolivarian Revolution defends this insurgent group. In order to reply to this lie, President Chávez assured that he is “defending peace, not the guerrilla.”
“This is a proposal to be debated, not to be thrown stones at and to be condemned (…) I’m sure that the Colombia’s and Venezuela’s people understand it.”
He also said it was necessary to know and go deeper into requests because if the FARC are acknowledged as a belligerent group, and they accept it, they would immediately be regulated by the Geneva Protocols and they won’t be able to use kidnappings.”
Central American countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala experienced years of conflicts, but thanks to dialogues and wills, the parts involved achieved a ceasefire, President Chávez explained as he said they are examples and references that can be used to achieve the goal with “humanitarian vision.”
In this regard, Mrs. Margarita Zapata, a former member of Guatemala’s insurgent group, called Unión Revolucionaria Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Revolutionary Union), explained that “the most vivid example that peace can be achieved with good will is Nicaragua,” because after a fervent war in the year 1979, causing over 50,000 casualties in places with less than 3 million inhabitants, peace agreements were endorsed.
Nicaragua is a democracy because “the Sandinist front took it there,” Mrs. Zapata assured as she stressed that the pacification process is completely possible if Colombia’s leaders and the parts involved sit at the same table in order to negotiate.
Presidential Press Office, Venezuela / January 14, 2008