Venezuela says 10 slayings could be Colombian conflict spilling across border

Venezuela ups border security after 10 slayings

CARACAS, Venezuela — Ten men who belonged to the same soccer team were slain execution-style nearly two weeks after being abducted in a crime that Venezuela said Sunday could be the work of warring factions in neighboring Colombia.

Venezuelan troops stepped up security patrols in the area near the Colombian border after the bodies of 10 men, most of them Colombians, were found in multiple spots in western Tachira state Saturday, Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said.

The victims were among a group of 12 men who authorities say were kidnapped Oct. 11 from a field where they were playing soccer.

Prosecutors said in a statement Sunday that victims’ relatives reported the abduction of 10 Colombians, a Peruvian and a Venezuelan. Prosecutors said the kidnappers, described as armed men dressed in black, were thought to have called out the names of the team’s members one by one before taking them away in vehicles.

The killings occurred near a porous border where Colombian rebels, paramilitary fighters and drug smugglers are often able to move about with ease. Venezuelan officials also have struggled in recent years with frequent kidnappings and murders blamed on common criminals in various parts of the country. The motive behind the latest slayings remains unclear.

The single known survivor, 19-year-old Manuel Cortez of Colombia, was shot in the neck, said Orlando Lopez, one of his brothers.

Lopez told The Associated Press that his brother didn’t know his abductors. “They had them tied up for 14 days in the sun,” Lopez said. “They tied them up to some trees, with chains on their necks and with their hands locked up.”

Lopez said his brother recalled the men saying the hostages “didn’t have anything to do with it but that they were going to kill them because they had seen their faces.”

As for Cortez, “they put him on his knees and they shot him,” Lopez said by phone from the military hospital in Caracas where his brother was moved after being afraid for his safety at a hospital in San Cristobal in the border region. A stranger arrived at the first hospital asking to see Cortez and was detained by authorities, Lopez said.

“We don’t know what group” was behind the killings, Lopez said.

A list of names released by Venezuelan authorities showed the victims ranged in age from 17 to 38, and several were from the Colombian town of Bucaramanga, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the border.

Carrizalez, who is also defense minister, did not give details about the kidnapping but said investigators suspect the bloodshed may be tied to a “confrontation between irregular groups as part of the Colombian conflict.” He said Venezuelan troops in the area had been ordered to “act forcefully” against any armed Colombian group.

Colombian officials in the past have accused Venezuela of allowing leftist rebels to take refuge across the border. Carrizalez said the remote region is difficult to control and that “we’re a victim of this conflict” spilling across from Colombia.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe condemned the killings and said they “show that terrorism is international, that it has no borders.” He offered help in the investigation and expressed confidence Venezuelan authorities will act promptly to “take those terrorists to jail.”

Relations have been tense recently between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Uribe’s U.S.-allied government. Colombian officials have been critical of Venezuela’s efforts to police its territory and reduce the flow of Colombian cocaine. Venezuela charges Colombia and the U.S. are trying to use the drug issue to unfairly discredit Chavez’s government.

Associated Press Writer Carlos Gonzalez in Bogota contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS spelling to Cortez, sted Cortes)