CARACAS, (Reuters) – Left-wing groups and lawmakers close to Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez burned effigies of top officials yesterday to protest the extradition to Colombia of a suspected senior rebel leader.
The socialist Chavez last year warned of war with neighbour Colombia over accusations he harboured hundreds of Marxist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, seeking shelter from fighting across the border.
In a major turnaround, he has since forged close relations with Colombia’s new President Juan Manuel Santos and the two countries are increasingly cooperating on security issues.
Responding to a phone call from Santos, Chavez last week ordered the arrest of suspected FARC member Joaquin Perez as he arrived in Venezuela on a flight from Germany. He was swiftly deported.
The move is considered a betrayal among many Chavez supporters, including prominent lawmakers, journalists and at least one former minister. It has provoked a furious reaction.
“Next we will be the chased and arrested,” said Luis Alvarez, one of about 200 protesters outside Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry, “This is terrible and dangerous for the whole international revolutionary movement.”
Protesters set ablaze an effigy of Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, calling him and Information Minister Andres Izarra “traitors.” Some anger also was directed at Chavez, as shown in road graffiti that said “Chavez, betrayal is not revolution.”
Despite radical policies and rhetoric, Chavez has a strong pragmatic streak. With an eye on a 2012 re-election campaign he may have decided his perceived closeness to the FARC is too costly.
In an earlier olive branch to Caracas, Santos said he planned to extradite an infamous drug lord to Venezuela instead of to the United States.
