Rice worried about Latam terrorism

By Arshad Mohammed

BRASILIA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday the United States is worried about terrorism in Latin America but declined comment on the chances Venezuela might be put on a U.S. terrorism blacklist.

In what appeared to be a veiled allusion to Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez, Rice also told reporters that Washington had no "permanent enemies" in the region.

Questions about Venezuela's links to Colombia's FARC guerrilla group -- which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization -- were raised after a March 1 raid by Colombian forces inside Ecuador that killed a FARC leader, Raul Reyes.

The Colombian government seized several computers in the attack and said they yielded data that proved leftist-led Ecuador and Venezuela were aiding the FARC.

Chavez has said Colombia's accusations are part of a U.S.-backed plot to smear him.

"We do have to be concerned about terrorism. We have to be concerned about the safety and well-being of countries in the region," Rice said, saying countries' "should not be subject to terrorist activities or terrorist attacks that are either within their borders or beyond their borders."

Speaking at a news conference in Brasilia after talks with Brazil's president and foreign minister, Rice referred to countries' obligations under U.N. accords to prevent their territory from being used by armed groups.

"We expect responsible states to live up to those obligations," she said.

Colombia defused the crisis that erupted over its cross-border raid by apologizing and promising not to take similar action if its neighbors cooperated in fighting the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

NO 'PERMANENT ENEMIES'

Rice declined to directly answer questions on whether the United States might add Venezuela to a list of countries deemed to support terrorism.

"The United States doesn't have enemies -- permanent enemies. What we have is the effort to work well with any state that is acting responsibly on matters of democracy, on matters of security, on matters of economic development," she said.

"That's our positive agenda for Latin America and we pursue it without an ideological litmus test."

On Wednesday, a senior U.S. official said new information about possible links between Venezuela and the FARC was disturbing but Washington was far from a decision to declare Caracas a state sponsor of terrorism.

That declaration could lead to sanctions on Venezuela although it was unclear whether it would necessarily disrupt Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Caracas, however, could retaliate by cutting off oil shipments.