Caracas, Venezuela — A Colombian hijack suspect is free to leave Venezuela because there are no local charges against him, Venezuela's attorney general said Wednesday in comments sure to fan fierce debate here over the case.
"There is no judicial circumstance that would stop (Jose Maria Ballestas) from leaving the country," Isaias Rodriguez told reporters.
Tensions between the two nations have been high over the arrest and subsequent release of Ballestas.
The suspected leftist guerrilla is accused of helping hijack an Avianca flight in April 1999 and holding its 42 passengers and five crew members for ransom.
Colombia on Wednesday formally requested that Ballestas be extradited.
Contradictory statements by President Hugo Chavez's ministers about the arrest, plus Venezuela's refusal to acknowledge it until Colombia released an incriminating videotape has fueled long-standing allegations that Chavez's government clandestinely supports Colombia's Marxist rebels.
Ballestas' case, the Caracas daily El Universal said in a front-page editorial Wednesday, "openly reveals what many have suspected: Here, nobody tells the truth."
It's not the first time Chavez has been accused of supporting clandestine movements in South America's Andean nations.
Former presidential candidate and ex-Chavez ally Francisco Arias Cardenas reiterated charges this week that Chavez supported an indigenous Bolivian separatist group and encouraged Ecuadoran army officers who staged a 2000 coup. Chavez denies the charges. This time, however, Venezuela's newspaper, radio and TV commentators are voicing indignation that Chavez's government may be harboring an international fugitive.
"The undeniable contradictions produced by (Venezuela's) various ministries ... demand an explanation to the country from the President," El Universal said.
Even Venezuela's Congress, 60 percent of whose members pledge allegiance to the leftist president, voted Tuesday to investigate the case. Ballestas was arrested Feb. 13, and then released.
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