VENEZUELA/NETHERLANDS: DEMARCHE ON VENEZUELA'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000540

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/AND, EUR/ERA, S/CT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2014
TAGS: PTER PREL VE CO NL
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA/NETHERLANDS: DEMARCHE ON VENEZUELA'S
WEAPONS ACQUISITION

REF: STATE 25063

Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d).


1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel points to Dimitri Vogelaar,
MFA Venezuela/Colombia/Peru Desk officer on February 25.
Vogelaar said that the EU Heads of Mission (HOMs) in Caracas
had discussed this issue in preparation for the March 8 COLAT
meeting in Brussels and concluded that it was not an issue of
immediate concern. The Dutch have not raised the matter with
the GOV bilaterally.


2. (C) Vogelaar said that the Dutch believe Venezuela has a
good tracking system for labeling and monitoring weapons and
for insuring they are not diverted from legitimate military
entities. He noted that this was one of the points cited by
the EU HOMs in their discussion. The HOMs understood that
the guns in question would be used to arm Venezuelan reserves
sent to enforce the Colombia/Venezuela border. Vogelaar
added that he was not aware of any Colombian objection to the
purchase, leading to the conclusion that Colombia accepted
the border reinforcement theory.


3. (C) Finally, Vogelaar recalled that President Chavez had
criticized the FARC at the time of the hand over of Granda,
suggesting that Chavez would not be inclined to aid the FARC
in general. Vogelaar observed, however, that the question of
whether Chavez' criticism was "sustainable" remained open.
SOBEL