BRV VICE MINISTER DISCUSSES TERRORISM, EXTRADITION

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001461 SIPDIS SECRET NOFORN SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD FOR FRC LAMBERT E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 05/22/2026 TAGS: PREL SNAR PTER KSAF VE SUBJECT: BRV VICE MINISTER DISCUSSES TERRORISM, EXTRADITION WITH AMBASSADOR REF: CARACAS 01300 CARACAS 00001461 001.2 OF 004 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT R. DOWNES FOR 1.4 (D) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (S//NF) Venezuelan vice foreign minister Maria Pilar Hernandez called in the Ambassador on May 17 to discuss the status of BRV extradition requests on alleged terrorist bombers Jose Antonio Colina, German Varela, and Luis Posada Carriles. She said her government had taken the position that the USG defended terrorists because the USG had not responded. Ambassador stated he had no instructions, noted that a decision on Colina and Varela was forthcoming but indicated that there were clear signals that the BRV had not provided adequate evidence. He confirmed that the USG had stated willingness to suggest ways to improve the request on Posada Carriles, but frequent public accusations by the BRV was making cooperation on legal issues difficult. The Ambassador told Hernandez that the BRV had ignored over 100 requests for information on possible terrorists transiting Venezuela during the past four years. He raised the issue of the Barinas Government's apparent refusal to contribute to his security during his May 18 visit to the state. He reminded her that the MFA had not responded to an Embassy request to reestablish a post in Maracaibo. A request for payment for damages to the chancery committed by BRV-sponsored protesters remained unanswered, as well. He updated her on the radiological incident at Puerto Cabello (REFTEL). End Summary. -------------- Extradition Requests -------------- ¶2. (C) The Ambassador met with Venezuelan vice minister of foreign affairs for North America Maria Pilar Hernandez on May 17 at the Ministry (MFA) at her request. Hernandez called the meeting to discuss the status of BRV extradition requests on Luis Posada Carriles (accused of bombing a Cuban airplane) and Lieutenants Jose Antonio Colina and German Varela (accused of bombing the Spanish Embassy and Colombian Consulate in Venezuela). Regarding the Colina and Varela case, she said the BRV had fulfilled all the requirements of the extradition request, which it had filed over a year ago. Regarding Posada Carriles, she said she assumed that the "absurd" claims of prospective torture would affect the decision. Consequently, the BRV had taken the public position that the USG was defending terrorists. She added that the BRV interpreted the USG's failure to detain Colina and Varela as U.S. collaboration with terrorism. ¶3. (C) The Ambassador responded by noting that the BRV had denied four U.S. extradition requests (Note: all wanted on narco-trafficking charges) in the past two years. The USG had declined to move on three. Clearly there was a fundamental problem on extradition between the two governments. We could try to solve it, or we could politicize the differences. He said the MFA would receive a definitive response on Colina and Varela. The Ambassador warned, however, that the evidence it had supplied hinged on an alleged witness who had retracted his statement. Stressing that Posada Carriles remained in a U.S. detention facility in El Paso, the Ambassador said the case was still active, but the extradition request was not sufficient in its current form. The USG could provide guidance to the BRV on CARACAS 00001461 002.2 OF 004 preparing an adequate request, but the climate of constant BRV public declarations complicated the matter. ¶4. (C) Hernandez asked if the USG would prosecute those officials it refused to extradite. The Ambassador replied that if the USG judged there was insufficient evidence for an extradition, it was likely to find the evidence insufficient for a trial, as well. Hernandez said the BRV was constitutionally prohibited from extraditing the four officials mentioned by the Ambassador because the USG had not provided guarantees that they would not receive more than 30-year sentences. The Ambassador added that the U.S. decisions on extradition would likewise be made in accordance with domestic laws. The USG remained ready to dialog on a legal level but not on a politicized level, he said. -------------- Terrorism Determination -------------- ¶5. (S//NF) Hernandez said her government rejected the Secretary's March 15 determination that the BRV was "not SIPDIS fully cooperating" against terrorism. The action was politically motivated, she asserted. The Ambassador noted that besides the reasons for the decision outlined in the country report, the BRV had failed to respond to over 100 Embassy requests for information on the movement through Venezuela of people with suspected ties to terrorism over the past four years. Hernandez asked for an informal list of concrete examples of such requests for information. She said she wanted to find out whether the requests were rejected because of human error or because they came from the Embassy. Noting that such correspondence was supposed to go through intelligence, law enforcement, and military channels, the Ambassador agreed to look into sending a sanitized non-paper of a few requests she could check. -------------- Ambassadorial Security -------------- ¶6. (C) The Ambassador said that the Barinas Government had told us it would not be responsible for the Ambassador's security during his trip to the state May 18. Rather, it referred the Embassy to Venezuelan intelligence (DISIP). The Ambassador noted that his experience from previous travel suggested that when state governments eschewed responsibility, violent protests were organized. Hernandez said that she could not give orders to the state government, but would work through other channels to ensure there were no incidents. (Note: DCM reiterated concern for the Ambassador's security in a call to the Vice President's chief of staff, Rene Arreaza, who said he would approach the state government on the issue. The Barinas Government did provide security during the May 18 visit (SEPTEL).) -------------- Embassy Vandalism -------------- ¶7. (C) The Ambassador raised the MFA's lack of response to the Embassy's March 20 diplomatic note, which requested reimbursement for vandalism to the Chancery committed during protests on March 8. The Ambassador emphasized that the USG was asking for repayment for the first time because the BRV, through the Ministry of Communications and several other senior government officials, clearly and publicly sponsored this march. The Embassy had not protested the damage left by CARACAS 00001461 003.2 OF 004 several other marches. Hernandez said the MFA had been silent on the issue because no standard operating procedure existed for repaying an Embassy for vandalism. She added that the Foreign Ministry was not involved with the marches. The Ambassador indicated that the USG would be forced to take some reciprocal action to recoup costs incurred by the BRV if the BRV failed to respond. -------------- Maracaibo Consulate -------------- ¶8. (C) The Ambassador also raised the issue of our April 12 diplomatic note, which solicited permission to reestablish a consulate in Maracaibo. He noted that we were facing some concrete issues that were becoming more urgent as time passed. First, contracts for the building space needed to be settled. Second, apartments needed to be found. Third, other issues surrounding the arrival in a few months of two new employees had to be resolved. Ambassador said there would be "certain pressure" from the USG on the BRV if a response were not received within another month. Hernandez took note of the request without response. -------------- Cobalt-60 Issue -------------- ¶9. (C) The Ambassador brought Hernandez up-to-date on the issue of the unprotected Cobalt-60 device that had exposed several NAS and BRV employees to radiation (REFTEL) in Puerto Cabello. He said that Oak Ridge medical personnel--in consultation with the IAEA--visiting Post had determined that affected U.S. and Venezuelan personnel had undergone a negligible risk of radiation poisoning. Hernandez noted that some Venezuelan personnel had been exposed for days. The Ambassador assured her, however, that given the low level of radioactivity, the evidence suggested a person would have to be almost touching the source for such an extended time to have been in danger, according to the Oak Ridge experts. -------------- Counterdrug Accord -------------- ¶10. (C) Hernandez said her government still had a problem with the latest version of the counternarcotics addendum, transmitted to MFA by dip note in March. The Spanish document was an inaccurate translation, she said. She proposed that her ministry translate the English version of the text and provide its version to the USG as early as next week for approval. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (C) Vice minister Hernandez was on her best behavior. Charged only with raising the extradition issue, she was in much better spirits this time. She may have wagered that the Ambassador would have difficulty explaining why Venezuela had not received replies to its extradition requests. She joked that the "not fully cooperating" designation was intended to place Venezuela in "purgatory." The forthcoming response to the extradition requests on Colina and Varela will clear an issue off our bilateral agenda, and fit nicely with our line that the BRV has also been nonresponsive on extradition. CARACAS 00001461 004.2 OF 004 BROWNFIELD