US embassy cable - 05THEHAGUE540

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000540 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND, EUR/ERA, S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, VE, CO, NL 
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA/NETHERLANDS: DEMARCHE ON VENEZUELA'S 
WEAPONS ACQUISITION 
 
REF: STATE 25063 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b) a 
nd (d). 
 
1. (C)  Poloff delivered reftel points to Dimitri Vogelaar, 
MFA Venezuela/Colombia/Peru Desk officer on February 25. 
Vogelaar said that the EU Heads of Mission (HOMs) in Caracas 
had discussed this issue in preparation for the March 8 COLAT 
meeting in Brussels and concluded that it was not an issue of 
immediate concern.  The Dutch have not raised the matter with 
the GOV bilaterally. 
 
2. (C)  Vogelaar said that the Dutch believe Venezuela has a 
good tracking system for labeling and monitoring weapons and 
for insuring they are not diverted from legitimate military 
entities.  He noted that this was one of the points cited by 
the EU HOMs in their discussion.  The HOMs understood that 
the guns in question would be used to arm Venezuelan reserves 
sent to enforce the Colombia/Venezuela border.  Vogelaar 
added that he was not aware of any Colombian objection to the 
purchase, leading to the conclusion that Colombia accepted 
the border reinforcement theory. 
 
3. (C)  Finally, Vogelaar recalled that President Chavez had 
criticized the FARC at the time of the hand over of Granda, 
suggesting that Chavez would not be inclined to aid the FARC 
in general.  Vogelaar observed, however, that the question of 
whether Chavez' criticism was "sustainable" remained open. 
SOBEL