Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said today that he doesn’t consider the FARC a terrorist group and therefore should be removed from the list of international terrorist organizations:

“The FARC and the ELN are not terrorist groups, they are armies, real armies that occupy a space in Colombia. The FARC and the ELN must be given recognition. They are insurgent forces that have a political and Bolivarian project, and that is respected here.”

That was the message Chavez was sending to other Latin American governments in hopes that it wouldn’t fall on deaf ears, especially in Colombia. No such luck, as the Colombian government didn’t waste time in responding via its press secretary:

“The government of Colombia, will not for any reason accept that the title of terrorists be lifted…the government of Colombia with its army and its constitution will continue the struggle until we defeat these groups which have received the most generous offers of peace.”

Press Secretary César Mauricio Velásquez said the FARC’s actions go against basic human rights, and that they are terrorists because “they kidnap, indiscriminately place bombs, recruit and murder children, murder pregnant women, the elderly and utilize land mines, leaving thousands of victims in their wake.”

Via / El Universal