For the ranchers, it's a matter of defending their lives and land, a role they say the state is not taking. President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday, warning farmers that his government would prosecute those creating militias. Here, the armed forces are our defense and nobody else,'' he said. The problem, according to the Venezuelan Ranchers Association, is that there is virtually no government presence along remote border regions, leaving ranchers there vulnerable to incursions by Colombia's leftist guerrillas. The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported this week that the right-wing United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, is training more than 100 Venezuelan farmers in the western Venezuelan state of Tachira.
Venezuelan officials deny knowledge of any paramilitary presence.
Colombia's paramilitaries emerged from groups organized by ranchers to defend themselves from leftist rebels. The paramilitaries have since become a formidable force accused of human rights atrocities, including massacres of villagers suspected of supporting rebels. This is the story of Colombia's paramilitaries. Almost always, these apparent remedies are worse than the disease,'' says Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel. Colombian coca growers have moved some crops to Venezuelan soil, Venezuela says.