Via Reuters/the NYT: Colombia Says Rebel Was Protected in Venezuela

A top Colombian guerrilla was protected by Venezuelan officials before his capture, an action that has triggered the worst dispute in years between the Andean countries, Colombia said on Sunday.

Far from apologizing for what Venezuela calls the illegal abduction of the rebel leader, Rodrigo Granda, from Caracas last month, Colombia upped the diplomatic ante by saying he was being sheltered in Venezuela.

This is a follow-up to a story I noted this weekend.

(On a different note: this story utilizes one of my journalistic pet peeves: a declarative statement that includes a charge that ends with “xxx says” so that a casual read makes one think that the declaration is a report of fact, not one person’s opinion. And normally it is an unnamed source, making the usage of the structure more egregious in my opinion. This is often used, I would argue, so that the reporter can assert what they think to be true, while covering themselves by the way the opinion is reported. I am not asserting this is the case here, but it still bugs me).