Gov’t denies receiving report

Bogota
The Colombian government on Monday denied having received a CIA report from the United States about the actions of Cuba’s envoy to Bogotá favoring the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia.

The Colombian foreign ministry issued a communique denying the story published in Cambio magazine that such a report had been delivered by U.S. envoy to Bogotá William Wood.

Neither Foreign Minister Carolina Barco nor Ambassador in Cuba Julio Londoño “has received any report from the U.S. Embassy in Colombia concerning the activities of Ambassador Pérez Novoa before his accreditation in Colombia or during his stay in the country,” said the statement.

“It is not the policy of the Colombian government to get into grading the behavior of foreign governments’ representatives with regard to the duties they carried out earlier, when those (activities) in no way affect the interests of Colombia or the principles of non-intervention in internal affairs,” the communique continued.

The government emphasized the role played by Havana in Colombia’s peace talks with the guerrillas, adding that talks between the ELN and the government had been conducted in Cuba.