Venezuelan opposition leader sued in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuelan opposition leader sued in Colombia
posted by Adriaan Alsema
May 16, 2013

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles and Colombian former President Alvaro Uribe have been sued for trying to disrupt exports to Venezuela and destabilize their governments.

According to the plaintiff, Colombian lawyer Aurelio Jimenez, Capriles met with Uribe and the former president’s adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria in November 2011 to plan a disruption of exports to Venezuela with the aim of destabilizing the government of Colombia’s neighbor to the east.

The Colombian and Venezuelan politicians subsequently approached Colombian exporters and Venezuelan importers to convince them to suspend trade and intentionally cause scarcity in supermarkets in Caracas, according to Jimenez.

The attorney’s claim has been supported by audio that was leaked to Colombian newscast CM& who published an article about the meeting on its website. The article and audio later disappeared from the news website. Venezuelan television station TeleSur does still have a copy of the audio made during the meeting.

In the audio, Uribe instructs Venezuelan opposition leader on how to deal with an upcoming visit to Caracas of current President Juan Manuel Santos.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/venezuela-opposition-leader-sued-in-colombia/

[ocpagu]

1. Good!

Also in the article:

"According to the filed lawsuit, Uribe, Gaviria and Capriles are guilty of endangering Colombia’s national integrity, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Uribe faces additional charges of treason."

This is the "competent", "progressive" leader some DUers would like to see as president of Venezuela. Now, what I can't understand is how is Capriles being sued in Colombia and still not facing any consequences for his deadly show in Venezuela.

I hope Maduro won't repeat Chávez's mistake of forgiving these agents of destabilization, as in 2002. Impunity only empowers these clowns.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Same here! Chavez was more than kind to allow those hired assassins to return to Colombia.

Funny that the corporate media said absolutely NOTHING about the fact there were over 100 paid mercenaries, some of them previous Colombian soldiers who were imported by Venezuelan opposition members across into Venezuela to assassinate Hugo Chavez. NOTHING.

Can you imagine the shrieking from the corporate media, had soldiers from the Venezuelan military showed up in Colombia to do likewise? They would STILL be gibbering about it, and would have made short work of Chavez over it long ago.

As it worked out with Chavez, however, he and Uribe had a 6 hour-long meeting immediately after the hired guns were arrested, and Uribe allegedly apologized and there was a peaceful ending to the conversation.

I don't think Chavez should have been so generous of spirit over this, either, like you. After that the little back-biting serpent attacked him relentlessly in the media, anyway. It's his "nature."

You bet, Capriles is "progressive!" He and Uribe are clearly playing for the same team.

[railsback]

2. Capriles is a shill for the oligarchs

That was plain from day one. I can't believe people here wanted him to win. Republicans disgust me, no matter what country they're in.

[Judi Lynn]

6. You're right. They are ALL "Republicans." They're everywhere, even have infested D.U., as we know.

Real Democrats would have absolutely nothing to do with the guy. He has nothing in common with the working class.

Real Democrats have always represented the labor movement.

[railsback]

26. One thing is for sure

Capriles is f*cking himself bad, and any future hopes the oligarchs had of regaining control. Poetic justice for those slimy bastards.

[Catherina]

31. That's the silver lining in all of this. Never interrupt your enemy while he's self destructing.

Never interrupt your enemy while he's self destructing.

In an article titled, “Uribe: Advisor to the Titanic”, Rebelion. org writer Juan Manuel Karg noted that Uribe’s vocal support for the Capriles Radonski campaign “comes at a time when the Governor of Miranda begins to lose out in public opinion, after a campaign launch that expected to be much closer (to Chavez) in the polls, and just months before the election”. With opinion polls that place President Chavez “between 20 and 30 points ahead of Capriles Radonski”, Karg said, “one can understand the necessity the MUD has, or that Capriles himself has,” to get additional support from “international advisors” Kang also noted that public comments by Capriles Radonski distancing himself from Uribe are purely for show, and that as this year’s electoral contest approaches, “there they will be, on the one side, beyond their cosmetic differences, Capriles Radonski, Uribe, and the international lobbyists that are still trying to prevent the sinking of the Titanic better known as the MUD; and on the other side, Chavez and the courageous Venezuelan people”.

http://www.embaven-chipre.com/index.php?id=298

Party on Henrique, party on.

[Catherina]

3. Some more details. I've been researching this.

Attorney Callejas Aurelio Jimenez filed, under Fiscal law 174, a complaint (denunciation) against Venezuela's former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles in a court case against ex-president Uribe, on charges of undermining national integrity, conspiracy to crimes and obstruction of justice.

...

According to lawyer Jimenez Callejas, everything goes back to a meeting on November 25, 2011 at the Hotel Dann Carlton, Bogota, where planning allegedly took place so that Venezuelan industrial and importer business would not buy products Colombian products in order to empty supermarket shelves in Caracas.

"Capriles met (with Uribe) and not only undermined Colombia's national integrity but Venezuela's as well, because both countries experience shortages as a result," said the lawyer.

According to the complainant, the alleged action severely impaired businesses in the border area.

"We can not let the economy go belly up, because some people use these methods as an electoral weapon," he said.

http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/nacional/denuncian-henrique-capriles-por-reunion-con-alvaro-uribe-velez-119791

----
So Uribe immediately springs into action and tweets "I've never even met Capriles".

"Me denuncian por reunión nunca realizada con Candidato Capriles, a quién no conozco, pero con quien espero dialogar en algún momento" (I've been denounced for a meeting that never took place with Candidate Capriles , whom I don't know but hope to dialogue with some day.)

Little did he know, cameras exist and this photo was already floating around on the web.


----

In 2011, several Colombian journalists witnessed Alvaro Uribe getting out of his car and going to a meeting with the Venezuelan opposition in the Bogota hotel Dann Carlton. One journalist (Jaime Moreno) managed to get a tape of the meeting from the hotel's security chief, who later denied giving it to him after the scandal erupted. Colombian TV CM& broadcast 3 seconds of the tape, minus audio, showing Uribe meeting with the Venezuelan opposition. Uribe went ballistic, threatened to sue for infringement of "intellectual property rights" for '[link:for http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/actualidad/anuncian-proceso-a-periodista-que-divulgo-grabacion-de-uribe-con-opositores-venezolanos/20111201/nota/1586593.aspx |wrongfully stealing frames from a private meeting which was recorded by security cameras]' using his foundation Primero Colombia (he's its President). The Colombian Association of Journalists immediately denounced Uribe's false claim of video theft and journalist was Jaime Moreno was hastily transferred to New York. CM& News has proof that there was no theft.

If the case isn't fairly dealt with in Colombia, Attorney Callejas Aurelio Jimenez will take it to Human Rights Watch and to the UN.

This is at least the third time that Uribe is known to have met with the Venezuelan Opposition. Here is a video of Uribe meeting with Leopoldo Lopez in 2011

This has been all over Colombian news since 2011. It's quite strange that the US press hasn't touched the story.

RT Spanish had a segment about this

I'm still researching this.

[ocpagu]

4. Thanks for the details, Catherina.

Hard to believe they didn't meet (specially after the photo . Uribe seems to be attracted to everything that is evil.

[Catherina]

8. It appears that the original case is about a Uribe plot to oust President Santos

by forcing his resignation. Those are treason and conspiracy charges you brought up.

That may shed some light on why President Santos refused to meet with the Venezuelan opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, when they went to Colombia last week.

The origin of the complaint is based on the controversial meeting that the former president had last November 25, 2011 at the Hotel Dann Carlton in Bogota with businessmen of the opposition to the government of Hugo Chavez, and in which his words were considered by some observers as a clear incitement to rebel against President Juan Manuel Santos.

Jimenez claimed that the meeting was just a first move of something he considers a plot to overthrow the President Juan Manuel Santos.

...

(Jimenez "Yes, I was very aware of the video the journalist Jaime Moreno of CM& had and which was finally broadcast by the news, where they listened to former President Uribe invited Venezuelan traders and producers not to buy Colombian products to empty out the Venezuelan supermarket shelves and use that to campaign against Hugo Chavez. (...) I was profiling Enrique Capriles, but the bottom line is that all this was to break the harmony between the Colombian government and Chavez.

...

http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/estan-conspirando-contra-santos-dice-denunciante-uribe/262681-3

[Judi Lynn]

7. My god, this is spectacular. Don't know how you managed it so quickly.

Jeez, he even names the Carlton Hotel in Bogota as their meeting place in 2011.

I think he may know what he's talking about, he just may!

So glad to see this. Thank you.

On edit:

That meeting was no secret at all, was it? Couldn't be more visible, more obvious. Uribe must be pathological.

[Catherina]

11. Thanks Judy. So Uribe is really upset about the Peace talks too.

It wasn't "so quickly" lol, I've been working on for a couple of hours now. I'm glad you found a source in English to start this OP.

I think the meeting was supposed to be secret but those pesky journalists spotted them, then spotted Uribe and one of them succeeded in getting video from security. I think that's why he's blowing a gasket.

How long do think Capriles sends out a tweet that he never met Uribe?

In one article I read, they wrote that on the tape, Uribe was clearly heard saying, "My cousin got screwed" (by President Santos).

I've been trying to find out who and how but his whole family is SO nasty, I can't figure it out. This is the article I was just reading. What an imagination Uribe has! What a liar. I don't think this is cousin in question since it's from 2012 but omg.

Ex-Colombian president's family face US extradition over drugs charges

Álvaro Uribe's niece and her mother are accused of having ties to Sinaloa cartel drug lord, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán

Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 June 2012

A niece of the former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has been singled out by US officials as having ties to a drug trafficking clan while her mother awaits extradition to the US over claims she worked together with the world most wanted drug trafficker.

Dolly Cifuentes Villa was arrested last year after a request from a US federal court for alleged ties to the head of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Her daughter Ana Maria Uribe Cifuentes was recently placed on the US Treasury's list of people identified as acting on behalf of drug trafficking or terrorist organizations.

...

On Sunday, Álvaro Uribe denied any knowledge of Jaime's relationship with Cifuentes Villa, or the existence of his niece, despite the fact the investigation has a fax of a birth certificate declaring Jaime Uribe as her father.

...

Álvaro Uribe acknowledged that his brother had been arrested but said he had been released and charges were dropped, claiming Jaime was recovering from throat surgery in a local hospital at the time the calls were made. "His car phone was cloned by criminals," Alvaro Uribe tweeted.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/11/colombian-president-uribe-extradition-drug

He sure tweets a LOT too! I looked at his twitter earlier and it's crazy.

Colombia's ex-pres faces blowback over peace talks
Associated PressBy LIBARDO CARDONA | Associated Press – Thu, Mar 21, 2013

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Alvaro Uribe did more as president than any Colombian leader to weaken the South American nation's main leftist rebel group and he has been among the most vocal opponents of peace talks with the insurgents. Now, he's finding that his strident opposition to the negotiations is bringing him some unsought attention.

Uribe's high-profile role in what has become a fierce battle for this Andean nation's future has drawn new scrutiny to his ties to provincial politicians, military officers and landowners accused of backing illegal right-wing death squads that killed thousands of noncombatants in Colombia's decades-old dirty war.

...

Uribe has been relentlessly attacking his successor, Juan Manuel Santos, the instigator and champion of the negotiations. Uribe insists Santos, who is up for re-election in May 2014 but has not declared his candidacy, is leading the country to ruin.

...

"He's not the president of peace," Uribe told reporters Monday in his latest attack on Santos. "He's the president who asks the courts for impunity for terrorists, the president who got elected in the name of security and who is leading the country on the road to the re-establishment of violence."

Uribe has been both speaking and tweeting relentlessly against the talks.

...

http://news.yahoo.com/colombias-ex-pres-faces-blowback-over-peace-talks-165515140.html

[Judi Lynn]

17. He's probably wild to keep Santos' government from succeeding in a Peace Agreement.

He may think it would make his time at the wheel look like what it was: corrupt, and vicious!

His own ties with the paramilitary narcotrafficking death squads go back a LONG time.

His cousin is Mario Uribe:

Cousin of Colombian President Uribe Arrested For Alleged Ties With Paramilitaries
Posted by Staff on Feb 26th, 2010

Top Story — A former Colombian senator and second cousin of President Álvaro Uribe, Mario Uribe, was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he had links to the paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombian authorities arrested him in the city of Medellin and plan to transfer him to the capital, Bogota.

The arrest relates to charges that Mario Uribe conspired with the AUC in the 1990s to gain control of land in northeastern Colombia. Jairo Castillo, alias “Pitirri,” says he saw a meeting in which Mario Uribe negotiated with paramilitaries for the land. Mario Uribe denies the allegations.

Mario Uribe was previously arrested in 2008 on similar charges but released due to insufficient evidence.

President Uribe said that his administration needs to make more progress toward uncovering ties between the government and FARC guerillas, but did not comment on the arrest of Mario Uribe.

More:
http://latindispatch.com/2010/02/26/cousin-of-colombian-president-uribe-arrested-for-alleged-ties-with-paramilitaries/

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Colombia’s Uribe Calls for FARC Probe After Cousin Arrested
By Alexander Cuadros - February 25, 2010 10:10 EST

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said his administration hasn’t made enough progress on uncovering ties between Marxist rebels and the government and called for renewed investigations into the issue.

“The policy of democratic security makes justice possible,” Uribe said, in comments e-mailed last night by his office. “It pains me that we still haven’t made progress on the FARC’s involvement in politics.”

The announcement came hours after Uribe’s cousin, former Senator Mario Uribe, was detained on conspiracy charges for alleged links to the disbanded United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, once the country’s largest paramilitary group, El Espectador newspaper reported.

Mario Uribe’s lawyer, Jose del Carmen, said the former lawmaker never met with paramilitaries, Bogota-based W Radio reported on its Web site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqoh4cL1VSss

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
21 February 2011 Last updated at 20:30 ET
Cousin of Colombian ex-President Uribe jailed

Mario Uribe, a cousin and close ally of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. A former senator, Mario Uribe was found guilty of having links to the country's paramilitary groups. The right-wing militias were created by landowners and drug traffickers to combat left-wing rebels. He is one of the most prominent figures jailed over paramilitary links.

Mario Uribe, 61, who served as president of the Colombian Congress from 2001 to 2002, was found guilty of having ties with the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

'Zero links'

The AUC committed some of the worst mass killings in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s as part of their campaign to combat left-wing guerrillas and anyone they suspected of being sympathisers. As part of a 2003 peace deal, most paramilitary leaders surrendered and demobilised tens of thousands of their men in exchange for reduced jail terms and protection from extradition.

Around 70 former and current politicians are serving sentences for conspiring or collaborating with the paramilitaries, in what has been dubbed the "parapolitics" scandal.

Prosecutors said Mario Uribe had met AUC commander Salvatore Mancuso in 2002 to discuss how the paramilitaries could support his political campaign.

The Supreme Court said the paramilitaries had devised a plan to forge ties with politicians by financing their campaigns so they would gain allies in Congress.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12532826

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Alvaro Uribe may want to gloss over what a crook his cousin is to this brat from Venezuela!

[Judi Lynn]

22. Even his neice and her mother, too! A real crime family business.

I loved the part in which Alvaro Uribe claims his brother, Jaime's car phone was "cloned by criminals."

Oh, ha ha ha ha ha. Cloned! Which criminals would that be? The Uribe criminals?

His other brother, Santiago, by the way, has been involved with real rough customers a long time:

(former Colombian President) Uribe's brother met with Vicente Castaño: 'El Aleman'



Santiago Uribe, the brother of Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe met with assumed dead paramilitary leader Vicente Castaño, AUC commander "El Aleman" testified before court.

According to newspaper El Espectador, Freddy Rendon Herrera, alias "El Aleman" said that Uribe met with Castaño and Raul Hazbun, a north Colombian businessman who mediated between the paramilitaries and banana company Chiquita, that has been convicted in the U.S. for financially supporting the paramilitary organization.

El Aleman told the court that Hazbun had told him the meeting between Uribe and Castaño, who was in charge of the paramilitary organization's drug trafficking operations.

Newspaper El Tiempo on Thursday reported that the paramilitary leader also accused "emerald czar" Victor Carranza of financially suporting the AUC.

More on Santiago Uribe below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4777476

[Flatulo]

9. Any info on Columbia experiencing shortages? I can't find anything.

The accusations include Columbia experiencing shortages as well.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Would you be kind enough to point out where the article says Colombia ... shortages?

Nothing really pops out for me, and it's a very short article.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Flatulo]

14. Excerpted below...

According to lawyer Jimenez Callejas, everything goes back to a meeting on November 25, 2011 at the Hotel Dann Carlton, Bogota, where planning allegedly took place so that Venezuelan industrial and importer business would not buy products Colombian products in order to empty supermarket shelves in Caracas.

"Capriles met (with Uribe) and not only undermined Colombia's national integrity but Venezuela's as well, because both countries experience shortages as a result," said the lawyer.

According to the complainant, the alleged action severely impaired businesses in the border area.

[Bacchus4.0]

16. check this out: Chavez promises to cause economic crisis in both Ven and Colombia

Chavez has promised that he will cause an economic crisis in both countries by suspending trade with the Colombians. Venezuela depends on Colombia for imports and their chief dependency is food. Venezuelan officials claim that they will be able to find an alternative source for food within a short amount of time, though they may suffer in the interim. The trade between Colombia and Venezuela amounts to billions of dollars and this is certainly something that will affect both the Colombians and the people of Venezuela.


http://voices.yahoo.com/venezuela-cuts-trade-ties-colombia-1268651.html

[Judi Lynn]

19. Hey, cool! Impressive credentials for the author of your posted article!

Nicholos Poma BS



Nick Poma holds a Bachelor of Science and Information Technology degree. He has served in the United States armed forces as a 31U, Tactical Communications Specialist, from 1983 to 1989 and then again from 2002 to 2005, where he recieved an honorable discharge. He also holds teaching credentials from the state of California. However, as of yet has not decided to hold a teaching position in the education system. Nick Poma writes on varying topics such as politics, business, technology, social issues, current events, and theology.

http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/110533/nicholos_poma_bs.html

[center] [/center]

[ocpagu]

21. LOL

Nice finding, thanks.

[Judi Lynn]

23. It sounds as if his current employment could be writing propaganda! n/t

[Flatulo]

28. Reuters also picked up on the story...

Interesting that Venezuela was seeing shortages of staples in 2007, according to the article.

I eagerly await your slander of the Reuters correspondent.

Chavez cut ties again in March of 2008.

http://www.nyjtimes.com/cover/03-07-08/ChavezThreatensToCutTradeTies.htm

I also see that Chavez froze ties yet again, or some more, in 2009 according to the Guardian, that fascist RW rag.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/29/chavez-venezuela-freezes-ties-colombia

Man, I can do this all day. There is just story after story of Chavez snubbing Columbia.

Lies, all lies, I say.

What a world, what a world.

[Bacchus4.0]

12. I wonder how much the Maduro administration paid that lawyer to file a lawsuit?

Chavez suspends trade ties with Colombia

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aj0PsOF0AQfU&refer=latin_america

[ocpagu]

15. Yep. Coffee shortage.

http://www.theroasterie.com/blog/the-colombian-coffee-crisis-will-it-affect-you/

[Flatulo]

24. That article says the growers and truckers are on strike.

I actually read the article. The growers are on strike for more money. The government has increased their subsidy (which is the opposite of trying to create a shortage), but the growers are still demanding larger subsidies.

Despite the strike, there is no shortage of Columbian coffee.

Now it didn't say so, but perhaps the coffee growers have a side business of sending toilet paper over the border...?

[ocpagu]

29. I don't understand what the Colombian coffee shortage has to do with toilet paper...

But, yes, there is a coffee SHORTAGE. And a long-lasting shortage. It has been going on since 2011!

"The shortage of high-end Arabica coffee beans is also being felt in New York supermarkets and Paris cafes, as customers blink at escalating prices. Purveyors fear that the Arabica coffee supply from Colombia may never rebound — that the world might, in effect, hit “peak coffee.”

New York Times - 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/science/earth/10coffee.html?pagewanted=all

"Colombia coffee shortage lifts prices in Tanzania"

Reuters - 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/ozabs-tanzania-coffee-idAFJOE7A007F20111101

Perhaps the fact that this didn't happen in Venezuela, was not caused by "price controls" or a leftist government explains why media prefer to focus on toilet paper...

[Judi Lynn]

25. Good one! I heard about this shortage, also. n/t

[Catherina]

18. VZ product shortages blamed on Capriles, Uribe "conspiring to keep local supermarket shelves empty"

May 17, 2013 12:20 PM
...

The shortage of toilet paper led Venezuela's socialist government to announce earlier this week that it would import up to 50 million rolls to pad supplies. The state news agency quoted Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming as saying the shortage was due to "excessive demand" as part of a media campaign to destabilize the country.

Flemings' accusations were echoed by National Assembly Deputy Andres Mendez, a member of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, who blamed product shortages on opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Mendez said the two were conspiring to keep local supermarket shelves empty by encouraging Colombian companies not to sell their products to Venezuela.

...

http://www.thetimesherald.com/usatoday/article/2194089

[Judi Lynn]

20. In time the people will have the real story on this. Then it should be interesting! n/t

[Flatulo]

34. I don't find claims that Columbians are withholding goods to VZ credible. Businessmen

act in their own best interest, right? Halting sales would hurt them, and they gain nothing in return.

[Dawson Leery]

27. Capriles is an economic terrorist.

[Flatulo]

35. What power this man has, to disrupt VZ society with a wave of his hand. Tell me how, exactly,

he is able to do such a thing.

[Catherina]

30. Venezuelan politicians had reported several trips that Capriles is making to meet with Uribe (2012)

Caracas, 15 May. AVN.- Hundreds of Venezuelans flooded on Monday the social network Twitter criticizing that ex Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez, who allegedly has paramilitary ties, supports Venezuelan right-wing presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.

...

"In a recent meeting with Latin American investors in New York, Uribe informed he would launch an electoral campaign against President Hugo Chavez in the frontier with Venezuela, specifically in the frontier with states of Tachira and Zulia," said Rangel.

Furthermore, Venezuelan politicians have reported several trips that the rightist presidential candidate Capriles is making to Colombia to receive guidelines of Uribe himself.

Capriles' ally Leopoldo Lopez, campaigning for opposition primary elections early this year, met with the ex president to review and implement in a possible government the "democratic security policy" used by Uribe during his administration.

...

AVN 15/05/2012
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/twitter-users-criticize-capriles-seeking-counseling-ex-president-paramilitary-ties

[Judi Lynn]

32. How underhanded. Talk about meddling!

There is a point to be made, when Capriles seeks help from someone like Uribe, who regularly is exposed more and more by testimony from former AUC (death squad narcotraffickers) leaders as high up as Salvator Mancuso. Uribe's ties to these murderous, sadistic killers goes back years and years, and now Capriles has been outed last year, having conferences with him.

Seeking Uribe's help in getting elected in 2012, making multiple trips to meet the guy, he couldn't possibly clean hands, either.
It doesn't work that way.

It was common knowledge at least as far back as last year.

No matter how many times Uribe claims this year he's never met him, there's no one around who could buy it!

[Catherina]

33. Yes, it seems to have been common knowledge

It's clear now why Maduro shut down the border the week of the election. Remember how the rightwingers were crying about all the poor people stuck in Colombia who couldn't make it over the border? And the reports of Colombian saboteurs who were caught with Venezuelan military uniforms in their possession in the border region? They knew what he was up to.

Henrique Capriles came to Colombia to meet with Alvaro Uribe: Chavez

The journalist from Venezolana de Television, Miguel Angel Perez Pirela, said that "what we know is that Capriles was meeting with Colombian right-wing"

March 28, 2012

Journalist Miguel Angel Perez Pirela of official channel Venezolana de Television, said during his show that the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, did not travel to Bogota to meet with entrepreneurs and Venezuelans as he had stated but to hold a private meeting with (former) Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez.

"What I already know is that Capriles was meeting the with Colombian right-wing, and there's evidence that he met with Uribe," said the journalist.

...

"Capriles is meeting with experts in Bogota on dirty war, psychological warfare and destabilization plans to try to boost his campaign and reverse the vote trend in favor of pro-Chavez," said Rodriguez.

http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/internacional/henrique-capriles-vino-a-colombia-a-reunirse-con-alvaro-uribe-chavistas/20120328/nota/1661835.aspx

[Catherina]

36. Venezuela to open an investigation into Capriles under similar fiscal laws and for treason

The formal request to start an investigation on Capriles and Uribe will be made on May 22 for proceedings under similar fiscal laws in Venezuela for his alleged responsibility in the crimes of undermining national integrity, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

On the same day, they'll ask the Foreign Policy Committee of the Venezuelan National Assembly to investigate the allegation made by the Colombian attorney and collect all the information needed to request the Supreme Court try Capriles for treason.

They view the Colombian complaint, that Capriles and Uribe conspired on a strategy to produce goods' shortages in Venezuela, as very serious.

Link here: http://www.acn.com.ve/portal/politica/item/74494-solicitaran-investigar-a-capriles-y-uribe-velez-por-desabastecimiento-en-venezuela