Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denied claims he had supplied FARC rebels on Wednesday, saying rocket launchers and automatic rifles found in a Colombian FARC base had been stolen from Venezuela fourteen years ago.
Shortly after Colombian officials announced the seizure of Swedish-made anti-tank weapons from FARC rebels, Sweden called on Venezuela to explain how the weapons, which were sold to Venezuela in the 1980s, landed in FARC hands.
At least 18 Marxist FARC guerrillas were killed in Colombia in the final hours of an air force bombing on Saturday of a rebel jungle camp in the centre of the country, according to a military spokesman.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has repeated his denial of ties to Colombian rebel group FARC, despite a video released a day earlier in which a rebel leader says he helped finance Correa's 2006 election campaign.
Colombian authorities said guerrillas killed three people and kidnapped a local council worker during an attack on a government building in the Huila province. President Alvaro Uribe promised swift action to find the lawmaker.
Seven soldiers were killed and four others wounded overnight in an ambush by leftist FARC guerrillas in southwestern Colombia, according to officials. The FARC remains the largest guerrilla group operating in Colombia.
Transport in some parts of Colombia often involves more soldiers than actual passengers. With Farc guerrillas on the lookout, travellers cover hundreds of miles in armour-plated vehicles guarded by heavily armed soldiers.
FARC, the lefist guerrilla movement responsible for the kidnapping and sequestration of hundreds in the Colombian jungle, on Tuesday released 69-year-old Swedish engineer Erik Larsson, whom they had kidnapped in 2007.
Colombian government troops have killed a FARC commander accused of ordering extortion and bombings around Bogota. The death of Jose de Jesus Guzman, alias "Gaitan", was the latest strike against the weakened rebel movement.
The heroic status of former hostage Ingrid Betancourt has been tarnished after a book published by fellow captives accuses her of being domineering, even treacherous.The writers say the Franco-Colombian was "a selfish, domineering woman."
