Venezuelan attorney general investigates alleged arms shipments to Colombian guerrillas

                  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- The attorney general ordered an investigation
                  Wednesday into recent suggestions that the Venezuelan military supplied
                  weapons to Colombian guerrillas.

                  Attorney General Javier Elechiguerra said in a television interview he was
                  opening the probe in response to a Colombian general's display of Venezuelan
                  weapons -- along with Panamanian and Bolivian arms -- confiscated from
                  guerrilla groups.

                  General Fernando Tapias, Colombia's military chief, blamed rogue Venezuelan
                  officers for supplying the arms.

                  "In these forces there's robbery or leakage of weapons and there must be people
                  in the institutions involved in the stealing of arms," he said.

                  Elechiguerra said he wants to know what happened to weapons that disappeared
                  in two unsuccessful 1992 coup attempts in Venezuela, one of which was led by
                  current President Hugo Chavez.

                  A statement Tuesday from the Venezuelan foreign ministry said the government
                  "categorically rejects" Tapias' allegation.

                  In June, Jesus Urdaneta, the former head of Venezuela's intelligence agency, said
                  Chavez had secretly arranged military aid for the guerrillas.

                  Chavez, who has denied that charge, said Tuesday the rebels probably obtained
                  the weapons through past attacks on Venezuelan military posts.

                  Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters Tuesday that controlling
                  weapons exchanges across the border was practically impossible. Authorities
                  had similarly confiscated Colombian arms from Venezuelan criminals, he said.

                  Rangel added that Tapias' allegations will not affect the "excellent quality of
                  relations" between both governments.

                  The Colombian government, which has warred with leftist rebel groups for more
                  than 35 years, has twice previously denounced illicit trafficking of Venezuelan
                  arms towards the rebels.

                  Since taking office in February 1999, Chavez has used his credentials as a
                  left-leaning nationalist to urge an end to the conflict between the Colombian
                  government and the rebels.

                  Colombia held peace talks in Caracas three weeks ago with the largest guerrilla
                  group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.