Paramilitary cells
in seven
Venezuelan states
CARACAS. —Seven Venezuelan states
have cells of Colombian paramilitaries, reported
General Melvin López Hidalgo, secretary of the
Security and Defense of the Nation Council (CODENA).
This important information was
supplied to the press by the high-ranking official
shortly before a special meeting and plenary, led by
President Hugo Chávez, was called for that body at
the presidential palace in Miraflores.
López explained that the states in
question are Zulia, Carabobo, Yaracuy, Falcón,
Anzoátegui, Bolívar and Monagas, apart from the
contingent captured near Caracas last Sunday.
The days of Holy Week were used to
equip these groups, during which arms and munitions
were transferred from Paraguaná Peninsula to
Carabobo, an action camouflaged as citizen security
operations, López explained.
He directly placed responsibility
for this operation on the current governor of
Carabobo, Henrique Salas Feo, and José Curiel, the
former governor of Falcón, who organized the
transfer in official Carabobo government vehicles
and ambulances, among other vehicles
