Colombia detains Venezuelan soldier with ammunition

[frigidmagi]

CNN

Colombia has detained a Venezuelan soldier found with thousands of rounds of ammunition of the kind favored by leftist rebels in Colombia, Venezuelan authorities admitted.
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Venezuelan official Ramon Rodriguez Chacin says the Venezuelan soldier was tricked in Colombia.

Colombia authorities recently detained Sgt. Manuel Agudo Escalona along with several boxes of ammunition, Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin told reporters Monday.

He said that Escalona was tricked and that Colombia authorities arrested him almost immediately after someone else put the ammunition in a boat in which he was traveling.

The confiscated ammunition was for AK-47 assault rifles -- of the kind used by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist insurgent force that has sought to overthrow the Colombian government since 1964. The United States and European Union consider the FARC a terrorist organization.

Colombia has accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of funneling funds to the FARC, an allegation he has denied.

On Sunday, Chavez stunned Latin America by saying the FARC should end its guerilla war and free about 750 hostages that it holds in the jungles of South America.

Escalona, another Venezuelan and two Colombians were detained just inside Colombia near the Venezuelan border.
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Authorities caught them with 40,000 bullets for AK-47s that they supposedly were going to sell to the FARC, Colombian Attorney General Mario Iguaran said, according to a report carried by Caracol Radio of Colombia.

The four admitted to arms trafficking on Sunday, the report said.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has accused Chavez of providing at least $300 million to the rebels. He cited evidence Colombia seized on a computer recovered after a March 1 military operation that killed the FARC's second in command, known as Raul Reyes.

The killing marked the first time in 40 years that a member of FARC's leadership council died in combat.

Another member of the leadership council was killed a week later -- by a rebel who turned himself in to authorities -- and yet another senior leader deserted and turned herself in to Colombian authorities.

In addition, FARC founder Manuel Marulanda, alias "Tirofijo" ("Sureshot"), died of natural causes in March.

[Cynical Cat]

While I don't doubt that Hugo is supporting FARC (there's other evidence that he is), it would really be helpful to know whether the ammunition in question is also used by the Venezuelan Military.

[frigidmagi]

Given this is the same government that ordered somewhere near a million AK-47s not that long ago...

I would say most certainly.

That being said, the average soldier does not knock around with 40,000 rounds! Never mind hanging out alone with that much ammo.