FM MADURO TO PROVIDE UNASUR PROOF OF COLOMBIAN PLANS TO

UNCLAS CARACAS 001499 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SNAR VE SUBJECT: FM MADURO TO PROVIDE UNASUR PROOF OF COLOMBIAN PLANS TO DESTABILIZE VENEZUELA ¶1. (U) In a November 24 press release, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced that Venezuela would provide proof of Colombian "paramilitary incursions and intent to destabilize" Venezuela at the November 27 UNASUR meeting in Quito, Ecuador. He said the November 19 capture of Magaly Judith Moreno Vega in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo was evidence that Colombia was "sending its paramilitary leaders" to Venezuela. ¶2. (U) Maduro called on the UNASUR foreign ministers to also examine ways to eliminate Colombian drug production and trafficking, noting that the United States was the largest drug market in the world. Referring to the recent Venezuelan destruction of foot bridges, Maduro advised President of Colombia Alvara Uribe against overreacting to the "sovereign decision of Venezuelan military authorities to dynamite two illegal foot bridges used by groups associated with narco-traffickers." He said Venezuela wanted to warn UNASUR of "the danger represented by the Colombian government which cynically uses elegant phrases and false calls for dialogue to conceal a guerilla process against our country and against Latin America." DUDDY