Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday said he was sure Basque separatists living in Venezuela and accused by Spain of belonging to the armed ETA rebel group were not engaged in terrorist activities.

On March 1st, Spanish High Court Judge Eloy Velasco issued arrest warrants for suspected ETA members he said had trained with Colombian FARC rebels in Venezuela, including one Spanish-born man who has worked in the Venezuelan government.

Dozens of ETA members were deported to Venezuela at the request of then Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez in 1989 after failed peace talks. Some became Venezuela citizens and have lived in the South American nation ever since.

"A group of people arrived here who belonged to ETA and are now Venezuelans, they got married here, they have children and grandchildren and we are sure they are not participating in any terrorist activity. They are Venezuelan citizens," Chavez told reporters.

The socialist president, who has long been dogged by accusations his government helps rebel groups like Colombia's FARC but denies such collaboration, said he would only act against the suspects if he was presented with hard facts, not "speculation and manipulation."

According to Velasco's detailed court ruling, in 2007, ETA rebels were given a Venezuelan military escort to a site in the jungle where they gave a course on handling explosives to visiting FARC guerrillas.

ETA has killed more than 850 people while fighting for independence for the Basque Country.

In a joint statement with Spain on March 6th, Venezuela strongly denied any links between the government and ETA, and said it totally rejected the group's activities.

Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has come under fire from the opposition for maintaining relatively good relations with Venezuela, where Spanish companies have large investments.

Chavez on Monday said the right-wing in Spain was trying to damage relations between the two countries.
"The Spanish right, the Spanish right-wing press, is determined to damage relations. We don't want to damage them, if they are hurt ... Spain will lose the most with its investments in Venezuela, the gas, the oil," he said.

Spain's relations with Venezuela have suffered in recent years, with King Juan Carlos telling Chavez to "shut up" at a summit in Chile in 2007 after the Venezuelan repeatedly interrupted Zapatero and called former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a Fascist.

"I don't understands why Zapatero defends Aznar. Zapatero gets upset because my foreign minister calls Aznar a 'mafioso.' He is!" Chavez said before warning Zapatero not to "disrespect" Venezuela.

Spanish oil company Repsol has significant investments in Venezuela. Spain's second-largest bank BBVA also has interests there.
 

(REUTERS)