Caracas: A suspected Colombian guerrilla sought by his home country for alleged involvement in terrorism was detained on Saturday when he flew in to Venezuela, authorities said.
A government statement said Joaquin Perez Becerra when he arrived in Caracas on an airline flight from Frankfurt, Germany. It described him as an alleged member of the international front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Venezuela said Colombia had issued an alert through Interpol asking that Perez Becerra be detained on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts and engagement in financing terrorism.
The arrest came 12 days after Venezuela decided to deport two suspected members of Colombia's other rebel group, the National Liberation Army, to face charges in Colombia of staging an attack on the Colombian Navy.
Those suspects were detained on March 17 in Guasdualito, near Venezuela's border with Colombia.
Cooperation between the two governments has improved since Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos took office last year and met with Venezuela's leftist leader, Hugo Chavez, to ease tensions. Chavez had a testy relationship with Santos' predecessor, conservative Alvaro Uribe.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, April 24, 2011, 10:00