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CARACAS, Tuesday September 30, 2008 | Update

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Colombian congressman requests Caracas mayor to be declared "persona non grata"

Politics A Conservative parliamentarian said on Tuesday that he will ask the Colombian Congress to declare "persona non grata" the mayor of a Caracas municipality, Freddy Bernal, for his participation in a recent tribute to Manuel Marulanda, the late founder and top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

"Bernal organized and funded the tribute to Marulanda," said Santiago Castro, the Colombian legislator. According to him, the Caracas mayor "made a statement justifying a crime" and "mocked of hundred of victims" killed by the guerrilla leader, Efe reported.

Castro, who holds a seat for the Conservative Party in the Colombian House of Representatives mentioned the events that took place last Friday in Caracas' 23 de Enero neighborhood on the occasion of the sixth month of the death of "Manuel Marulanda Vélez" or "Tirofijo."

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