The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-12
LEADER OF COLOMBIAN ARMY OF
LIBERALS OUTLINES THEIR
DEMANDS
TIRED OF FRENCH MEDDLING
General and His Party Have Full
Confidence i'm the United States
and Are willing 1t Should
Have Great Latitude.
cL1oUEs MUST BE BROKEN UP

Correspondence Of the Associated Press.
MARACAIBO, Venezuela, Oct. 31.-A
correspondent of the Associated Press
has just had an interview with Gen.
Uribe-Uribe. He found the general
strongly encamped in the Cordiifera
mountains, on the frontier line between
the Venezuelan state of Tachira and the
Colombian province of Santander. His
Headquarters were at a hamlet called
Luisiana half a days ride from San
Cristobal, the capital of Tachira. His
command, numbering several thousand
Colombian Liberals, was holding the ex-
treme left of the Venezuelan line of de-
fense, covering the approaches of San
Cristobal and the Encentrados railroad
from the direction of Cucuta. Gen. Chal-
bant Cordonne held the center, with Gen.
Modesto Castro at the extreme right.
On the Colombian side Gen. Valencia,
O. former minister, Juan Berti and
Kangel Garbiras, the Venezuelan rebel,
are in command. Altogether some $4,000
soldiers stand face to face on the FROM
tier. Skirmishes and raids across the
frontier are of daily, or rather of night
~ occurrence.
Gen. Uribe-Uribe readily consented to
an interview. Speaking fluently iii
French he said:
LAS President Castro has but recently
declared, this is not an international
war between Venezuela and Colombia,
but a struggle between the Liberal and
Conservative parties of both countries.
Here in Venezuela we all serve under
the yellow standard of the Liberal
party, as do our friends in Ecuador, in
Guatemala, in Nicaragua and in the Lib
eraI strongholds of the Colombian Qua
jira. We helped repel the recent attack
on San Cristobal, on the part of the
Colombian and Venezuelan Conserva-
tives under Garbiras and now we have
undertaken to help guard the Vene-
zuelan frontier against foreign attacks.
Resents Term Traitor.
my force is simply part of the
Venezuelan line of defense and, as it's
commander, I stand under the orders of
Generalissimo Cipriano Castro, just like
the other Liberal generals on this side
of the frontier. If l were to engage in
separate operations, I should run the
risk of interfering with the dispositions
of our fellow Liberals in the field and
would probably lose Gen. Castro's sup
port, especially if I compromised his
cause. We are not as yet strong enough
to do without the help of our allies out
side the confines of Colombia. 1t is alb
surd, on account of this, to call me a
traitor to my country. | love, my coun-
try with all my heart, as do all the
Colombian gentlemen of family and edtl-
cation who have left the University Of
Bogota to come under the Liberal
standard, We shall stand by all our
national treaties as, for instance the
treaty with the United States of 1846,
guaranteeing the neutrality of the
isthmus railroad; but we shall put a
definite stop to the present underhand
dickering for our most valuable conces-
SionS to European countries. Colombia's
concessions to France in regard to the
iSthmus, by the terms of the last treaty
expire in 1904 French capitalists have
obtained an illegal extension of these
concessions. Our congress, when it last
met in 1898, refused to ratify these con-
ceSSionS.
Tired of French Meddling.
I'VE have had enough of Panama
frauds. We do not want the French to
meddle further with the canal. We
know as all the world knows, that the
Americans can finish the canal in half
the time and for half sthe money. We
want Americans to undertake the COM
pletion of the canal and we willingly
accept the protection of the great North
American republic at the isthmus, as
we have already done, in regard to the
trans-isthmus railroad Even at the
present juncture we have no objection to
the landing of American troops at the
isthmus. We know that the Americans
will content themselves with protecting
the railroad. 1 have implicit trust that
they will hold the balance true
"Other ideals that we hope to realize
when our turn shall come in Colombia
are the liberation of our political pris.
oners and of the muzzled press, an
honest administration of affairs, the
furtherance of public works and gen
eral transformation of the present des-
potic practices of the clerical govern
ment of Bogota to The healthy functions
of more Democratic government
Colombia at present suffers from a