Yesterday, the Spanish Government made the formal request for the extradition of former ETA member Arturo Cubillas. Cubillas, who was a member of ETA before sent to Venezuela by the Spanish Government, has been accused of training ETA members and FARC members in Venezuela on how use weapons and how to make bombs.
This case reveals the lack of ethics and scruples of many members of the Venezuelan Government including former General prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez and current General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega.It also reveals how they have supported terrorist groups and now try to hide it.
Rodriguez, who is currently Ambassador to Spain and was the country’s first Vice President under the new Constitution (Reason enough to eliminate the position in the future), was quick to jump the gun when the charges first appeared and made very undiplomatic statements suggesting that the two ETA members who said they had been in Venezuela to be trained by Cubillas had been tortured by Spanish authorities.
As if this was not enough, Rodriguez and Ortega, made the same statement on the case that was simply not true, showing their ignorance of the law and their remarkable desire to defend Cubillas at any cost. They both said Cubillas could not be extradited, because he was a Venezuelan citizen. This is simply not true, as the extradition of Rodrigo Granda proved. Granda, the FARC’s Foreign Minister lived in Venezuela and became a Venezuelan, but was extradited by Hugo Chavez’s Government, when Isaias Rodriguez was the General Prosecutor by the revoking of his nationality arguing there was fraud in the process.
Rodriguez later backtracked, realizing his mistake, but under common ethical rules, Rodriguez, who has submitted his credentials to become a member of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, should not give opinions, wishy washy ones at that, about a case that may come before the Court.
The Cubillas case, gets weirder by the day. For some reason, the Venezuelan Government decided on day one to go all the way out on his defense. Cubillas, a nationalized Venezuelan and is married to a very close aid to current Vice-President Elias Jaua and occupied security positions in the Ministry of Agriculture when Jaua was there.
But the Government has tangled itself in its own explanations and inconsistencies as Alex Boyd has so carefully documented. To begin with the Chavez administration said that it was a prior Government that nationalized Cubilllas, which was quickly debunked by Alek, who found a copy of Cubilla’s official nationalization during Hugo Chavez’ tenure in 2004.
To add to the comedy, Cubillas goes to Venezuela’s General Prosecutor to request that he be investigated but uses different national ID numbers in his request! To add to the puzzle, Cubillas is accompanied by a lawyer from Venezuela’s premier human rights organizations Provea, who dares say that he is 100% sure that Cubillas is innocent!
But it turns out that Cubillas had problems with the law even during Chavez’ tenure, even if it is difficult to determine when his protection began.In fact, yesterday a former Prosecutor who worked for Isaias Rodriguez, charges that in a man of Spanish origin was detained sometime between 1999 and 2001 at Caracas’ Maiquetia airport and the case was buried by passing it along to a prosecutor who Rodriguez trusted. The accuser contends that man was none other than Cubillas and the Venezuela General Prosecutor, former Venezuela Vice President and today Ambassador to Spain said to him:
“That man (Cubillas), was a member of an armed group (ETA) that was fighting for many years in favor of just and irreprochable causes”
The truth is these people support and have supported terrorism from day one. They lied their way to power and continue to lie and manipulate in the belief that they can fool all the people all of the time. They are cynics with no scruples. Unethical men and women who care less if Venezuela is destroyed, enjoying the trappings and luxuries of power in the name of the revolution.
But one day, the details of all these stories will come out. Some will have to face the Court in The Hague and others like Alek Boyd, will be toasted for their work in debunking and exposing them.
I toast to him today! Cheers!
The Devil's Excrement 
November 1, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Good idea for a website, in Venezuela you would get a lot of traffic.
November 1, 2010 at 7:33 pm
What I don’t understand is: you marry a venezuelan, stay married at least 5 years, then the goverment ask you no questions about your terrorist status?! The fact that you have been married 5 years to a Venezuelan is enough to get you a citizenship with no questions asked? Wow! Pretty easy no? And after that nobody can extradite you anywhere…
If that is true, someone is going to create a terrorist dating service in Venezuela…
November 1, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Island, Alek, we now just have to find out where and when Cubillas was married to Gorriozola. If it happens to be a recent marriage, then it would mean he was nationalized through the normal channel, which means that he may have lied, which means that the goverment could strip him of his nationality…of course..”if”…
November 1, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Sorry Maria, I am not being unfair, sure there are exceptions, but when blogger who do this part time can do a better job come up with stuff regularly, something is not working right. Papers dont promote it actively, reporters are assigned a lot of stuff, there is censorship, there is mediocriy, but I think the level is really bad.
November 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Well, I think you are a little too hard with Venezuelan reporters. Do not generalized, remember who discover how the “testigo estrella” was not has estrella. If I remember correctly was a Venezuelan reporter. Also you have to think about the level of turn over rate for the news in Venezuela. What it is incredible is the “poca capacidad de asombro” of Venezuelans…
November 1, 2010 at 9:27 am
Spaniards too? I understand they follow a 5-year process without marrying, so it may be shorter. In any case: hurry up before they take it off the net, if there is such a piece of data online (which I doubt)
November 1, 2010 at 9:16 am
Just read the form for naturalization by marriage.
You need to be married at least 5 years before this applies.
November 1, 2010 at 8:06 am
Bruni, excellent idea!
Cubillas could have been granted his Venezuelan nationality through two different processes [http://www.saime.gob.ve/Dir_extranj/naturalizacion.php]:
– Naturalization after 10 and 5 years in the country;
– Naturalization for being married to a Venezuelan.
If he got it for his marriage to Goizeder Odriozola, then no questions are asked in the form related to legal problems.
If, however, he asked for it after having lived in the country for 10 and 5 years, then the form asks, specifically, on what condition did the individual entered the country. As he got into Venezuela extradited from Spain for his connections to ETA, he should have revealed that. Besides, the same day he got his naturalization, Maria Asunción Arana Altuna got her’s -Arana is another member of the ETA 11 people group that arrived in 1989. As far as I know Arana is a widow, and did not remarried.
November 1, 2010 at 7:29 am
arent you people tired yet of being the laughing stock of the world?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-31/chavez-says-venezuela-s-golf-courses-should-be-seized-put-to-other-uses.html
November 1, 2010 at 5:28 am
I agree, it is both things: Venezuelan journalists do not know how to do investigative work and if you become too personal you do risk your job or your life.
There are a couple of things that I find curious in Venezuela.
1) I see more basic misspellings in Venezuelan articles than in Colombian, Mexican or Spanish newspapers. You should expect better editing in newspapers. I believe this issue shows reading habits in Venezuela. As I have always said, the 1998 reading and comprehension test Venezuelan pupils took part in seem to prove this.
2) I see absolutely no graphs, no charts and no tables trying to put an issue on perspective, be it across time or space (murder rate in Venezuela, across regions, popularity, inflation and state forecasts, etc)
3) last but not least, I see little follow up of very specific issues such as the
FARC camps, the pictures Bruni mentioned, the flats and haciendas, the property rights of the Chávez family and other military, the consequences of having two cédulas as Chacín has, the Mali housing, etc.
I produced this crappy chart based on the stats on murder in Carabobo I have been recording since 2005 based on Notitarde news.
Those charts would be an eye-popper for many people.
I also have the numbers for 2004 where the rise was higher, but not complete as Notitarde did not publish all months.
October 31, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Rodrigo Granda had his nationality removed because when you fill out the form you are asked if you have had problems with the law anywhere. If Cubillas said no, then he lied.
As to reporters. Yes, many of them are not very good. But they are not encouraged to write damaging pieces against the Government and their material is censored right and left. To this day, the only newspaper that covered the multi billion scam with bonds and the swap market was Tal Cual and blogs have covered it extensively. This is a Dictatorship in terms of information, some things leak out, but most are held back, Tal Cual and La Razon publish stuff, but they get into trouble. I hold back stuff out of fear too. I know reporters in the economic area that tell me “I can’t write that, my editor will not allow it” and we are talking simple economic things the Government does that are a scam or wrong.
Today, for example, there ais an article in la Razon about how Nicaragua never really pays for oil, 50% is financed and they are supposed to pay the other 50%, except that the Nicaraguan oil company is owned in part by….Venezuela and gets financing itself from Fonden. This is a scam to have Chavez help Nicaragua not pay anything. I have known about it, but La Razon is the first paper to dare publish it. Venezuela is being raped as we speak and nothing happens.
October 31, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Alek, Miguel,
I remember several that years ago, I watched a TV program here in Canada about an italian-canadian mafioso found in Caracas that had been wanted by the justice in Canada and by the Italian authorities for many years. The guy appeared in Sabana Grande walking freely without any concerns.
The program said that the guy could not be extradited because he had become a Venezuelan citizen.
So from what I know, unless the goverment can prove Cabillas lied when applying for his citizenship or find another reason to strip him of his citinzenship, I do not know if he can be extradited, unless the law has changed.
It would be nice, Alek, to find the form it is used to get the vzlan citizenship, just to see, for instance, if there is something about not being a terrorist or something of the sort…
October 31, 2010 at 8:51 pm
“Simple, if you are in Venezuela you risk going to jail or killed.
I’m sure Alex has his sources inside Venezuela that can do the “leg-work”
Nope, Albionoldboy, even though the press is pretty shaken in Venezuela and some journalists are persecuted, I do not think a journalist would risk getting killed or put to jail for doing the type of work Alek did.
I think they either do not care or had not occur to them how to do investigative reporting on this case. With few exceptions, the msm is, in general, not very competent.
Remember the case of the two guerrilla vacationing in a beach close to Caracas? No journalist had taken the pain to go down there and check it out, yet it was so straightforward!
October 31, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Islan canuck…but only 25% of people voted.
October 31, 2010 at 7:28 pm
“…The fact that Manuel Rosales’ wife is looking like the clear winner undermines…”
Winner with 71% of the vote. The pueblo speaks.
October 31, 2010 at 6:59 pm
@AlekBoyd: thanks for all you do. It’s unbelievable sometimes to continue to read about what ETA, Hugo, Eva, etc., manage to do, blatantly, outrageously, hypocritically, yet are not brought to task for what they’ve done.
October 31, 2010 at 6:36 pm
PS: the info I have published is merely the product of my curiosity, which kind of pisses me off really, for if I could find stuff about ETA in Venezuela all the way from London with the help of an internet connection imagine what true investigative reporters on the ground could do, if they had the inclination.
For the record, there’s no people doing any leg work on my behalf.
October 31, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Cheers to you guys.
This ETA – Cubillas thing has disgusted me since day 1. For this is the kind of issue that would bring the government of a democratic country down: alas in Venezuela we have a regime which is openly employing, protecting, and supporting terrorists, and does do proudly! There are UN resolutions, passed unanimously, that leave no space for this sort of behaviour, and yet nothing happens. The press in Venezuela doesn’t touch the issue, and its counterpart in Spain is utterly hapless. The Spanish socialist government won’t turn the screws on Hugo, and its opposition did nothing to claim ETA terrorists residing in Venezuela when they were in power. As a matter of fact, for all his anti Chavez rhetoric, Aznar’s government did sell weapons to Chavez, in violation to EU regulation. To entertain the prospect that a change in government in Spain will mean a tougher stance on this issue, is just wishful thinking.
Let us never forget that ETA terrorist activities have claimed the lives of 813 innocent people. 813 families wrecked by these deranged fanatics. And yet, Cubillas moves around Venezuela freely, as chief of security of a ministry, with protection provided for by the State.
This lot have brought shame to the Basque nation, its people, culture, traditions and language. To think that there’s a substantial amount of Venezuelans supporting such behaviour makes me feel truly hopeless about the country’s future.
October 31, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Miguel, please write a post about the primaries in Maracaibo. The fact that Manuel Rosales’ wife is looking like the clear winner undermines the whole primary process! It speaks volumes of how the oposition is the same or worse than chavez at hand picking candidates with little or no experience to govern. Then again what were we to spect when there was about 78% abstention!!!?
October 31, 2010 at 4:47 pm
New victim SIDETUR, this metallurgic company invest between 2008-2010, 43 million dollars, planning to invest 22 millions until 2013. Now expropriate, down to the drain. Who will next?.
Will regime recognize the investments made? I do not think so
October 31, 2010 at 11:28 am
Hugo has proven that he is not above throwing even his closest allies under the bus if he wants to. The question is, how much damage will he suffer when Cubilla is interrogated by Spain. My guess is Chavez is more worried about skeletons in the closet, especially when he is losing so much ground everywhere else.
October 31, 2010 at 11:14 am
“My question is why no msm outlet in Venezuela can do that type of
investigation? How come Alek, who is outside Venezuela can find all that information and people that are inside Venezuela for whom it would be much easier don’t do anything about it?”
Simple, if you are in Venezuela you risk going to jail or killed.
I’m sure Alex has his sources inside Venezuela that can do the “leg-work”
October 31, 2010 at 10:54 am
Sorry, Nazi and Stalin Regimes did not expropriate, they confiscated. But by they way the present Regime expropriate they are very similar.
October 31, 2010 at 10:44 am
This reflects that Venezuela have differentiation of classes. In the best Nazi or Stalin style.
Cubilla will never arrested, nor extradited to Spain.
He is in the upper class, Chavez follower and in the trust circle, also with burocratic position, This is the Nomenclature, the class that will own the properties of the expropriations, like Nazis takes Jews properties and in Stalin regime they treat the expropriates properties like their own, and live then like the originals capitalistic owner, enjoy the capitalistic pressures.
Below are Cubans, Iranian, Chinese and all who can contribute to maintain Chavez in power.
Below this, the plain people, “red shirts” followers.
And in fourth or fifth class the “escualidos”, without any rights and destiny of al arbitrary treatments of the Regime. If they receive bullets from “red shirt” they deserve them and were guiltiest to protest against the regime.
Now in education, they will proceed to consecution of the “New Human” (brainwashes) because the proud of “The Fatherland”.
October 31, 2010 at 9:14 am
About the different national ID…according to Alek’s finding it turned out to be the number of Cubillas’ ETA friend Maria Asunción Arana Altuna.
There are two possibilities here: either the statement was written by Cubillas or it was written by his lawyer. in any case, the ID number used was that of Arana Altuna. So this shows that either they are in such close relationship that Cubillas confuses his ID with hers, or that the lawyer was composing two statements and he was the one that confused them.
What is amazing is that in a country where one needs to show one’s ID even to buy milk and bread with a credit card, Cubillas’ lawyer and the Prosecutor Office did not check the ID!
October 31, 2010 at 9:10 am
Im not pleased with “someday”.Someday Chavez will go out and its been 11 years.Someday is not enough.Impunity reigns in Venezuela.For everybody that can afford to throw 250 million bolos to a judge or any other “justice” enforcer.I toast to Alek Boyd as well!!!!!!!!
October 31, 2010 at 8:54 am
Alek is my favorite investigative reporter. Bravo Alek!
My question is why no msm outlet in Venezuela can do that type of
investigation? How come Alek, who is outside Venezuela can find all that information and people that are inside Venezuela for whom it would be much easier don’t do anything about it?
October 31, 2010 at 3:14 am
The main problem of Cubillas is that he was found out (cheers to Alek). My guess is that Cubillas will soon be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency, something the regime will have no compunction in doing. They don’t want a Cubillas, or an Antonini Wilson, much less a Danilo Anderson, to spoil their prospects of continued personal wellbeing. Be a Chavista, if you must, but don’t get caught doing something inconvenient.
Isaias Rodriguez? He’ll look at Cubillas in the eye and agree that he should be handed over to the Spanish authorities, shortly before accepting a promotion to the Supreme Court.
October 30, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Keep in mind that to brainwashed proto-Marxists throughout the world the members of ETA and FARC are heroes, just as the brave 21st Century Bolivarian Socialists are. And lets not forget Fidel and Che. True heroes all, fighting to make a better world. Barf.