IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1049 
Calling for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to be designated a state 
sponsor of terrorism. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2008 
Mr. MACK (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. PENCE, Mr. MARIO DIAZ- 
BALART of Florida, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. MCHENRY, Mrs. BONO MACK, 
Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. WESTMORELAND, and Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ- 
BALART of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to be 
designated a state sponsor of terrorism. 
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566 
defines ‘‘terrorism’’ as criminal acts committed with the 
intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, the taking 
of hostages with the purpose to provoke a state of terror 
in the general public or in a group of persons or par-
ticular persons, or to intimidate a population or compel 
a government or an international organization to do or 
to abstain from doing any act; 
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566 
calls upon all Member States, including the Bolivarian 
Republic of Venezuela, to prevent these terrorist acts and 
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•HRES 1049 IH 
to punish appropriately those individuals or groups re-
sponsible for committing such acts; 
Whereas the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism 
of the Organization of American States commits all State 
parties to establish domestic regulatory institutions that 
eradicate the financing of terrorist offenses, cooperate 
with fellow signatories to control borders, provide mutual 
legal assistance in counterterrorism efforts and prosecu-
tion of terrorist offenses, and conform to all other stipu-
lations of the convention designed to prevent, punish, and 
eliminate terrorist offenses; 
Whereas Venezuela signed the Inter-American Convention 
Against Terrorism on June 3, 2002, and ratified the con-
vention on October 22, 2003; 
Whereas, for more than 40 years, the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia (FARC) has carried out bombings, 
mortar attacks, kidnappings, extortion, guerrilla warfare, 
and drug trafficking targeting Colombian and United 
States political, military, and economic interests as well 
as foreign citizens; 
Whereas sources indicate the FARC kidnapped a total of 
6,877 Colombian and foreign citizens between 1996 and 
January 2008, including three United States defense con-
tractors who are currently being held hostage, and killed 
a total of 3,240 people between 2003 and January 2008; 
Whereas the FARC has been listed as a Foreign Terrorist 
Organization by the United States since 2001; 
Whereas reports indicate that ties between high-level Ven-
ezuelan officials and the FARC date back to August 
1999, when letters signed by high-level aides of Ven-
ezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that the Ven-
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•HRES 1049 IH 
ezuelan Government had offered fuel, money, and other 
support to the FARC; 
Whereas, in January 2008, President Chavez praised the 
FARC as ‘‘a real army’’ and ‘‘an insurgent force with a 
political project’’, and called upon foreign governments to 
cease referring to the FARC as a terrorist organization; 
Whereas seized documents from a Colombia-led raid against 
the FARC on March 1, 2008, suggest evidence of 
$300,000,000 in payments to the FARC from the Ven-
ezuelan Government, high-level contacts by the FARC 
with officials from Ecuador and Venezuela, and efforts by 
the FARC to obtain 50 kilograms of uranium; 
Whereas these documents reportedly reveal agreements be-
tween the Venezuelan Government and the FARC to re-
lease hostages in exchange for the promotion of FARC by 
President Chavez as a legitimate army and insurgency, 
rather than as a terrorist organization; 
Whereas section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 
1979, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and 
section 640A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 stip-
ulate that a designated state sponsor of terrorism is one 
‘‘that repeatedly provides support to acts of international 
terrorism’’; 
Whereas, since 2001, in each Annual Country Report on Ter-
rorism, the Department of State has cited the ability of 
the FARC and the Colombian National Liberation Army 
to use the Venezuelan border area for cross-border incur-
sions and regard Venezuelan territory near the border as 
a safe haven; 
Whereas, on September 15, 2005, President George W. Bush 
decertified Venezuela regarding counter-narcotics co-
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