Hugo Chavez Rattles His Saber
Colombia's success against the FARC Marxist rebels is making their neighbor Hugo Chavez furious and he is threatening war, writes Fausta Wertz.
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By Fausta Wertz
The Colombian army boldly went into Ecuador on Saturday and killed Raul Reyes, the second-highest commander of the powerful FARC guerrilla organization, dealing the greatest blow to the FARC to date:
The operation to kill Reyes began in the early morning hours when the Colombian army received confirmation from a spy that the guerrilla commander was in a hamlet called Santa Rosa just across their border in Ecuador.
Planes were sent to bombard the camp, followed by troops in helicopters who recovered the bodies of Reyes and another 16 rebels.
The killing of Reyes has shattered the myth of invincibility that surrounded FARC’s leadership.
A myth that has been quickly fading: It’s worth bearing in mind that the FARC has done two unilateral hostage releases this year. After each release, the former hostages have described in detail to the media the horrific conditions which they had to endure for years.
The Uribe administration has waged a strategic war on the FARC and it is bearing fruit.
The unilateral hostage releases point to the effectiveness of the Uribe administration. The information provided by the hostages has not only helped in the war against the FARC but has also significantly influenced public opinion in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and strengthened the networks of informants that Colombian government has set up within the FARC.
The Colombian security forces, with the help of technology provided by the US, have infiltrated the closed inner circles of the FARC. Over the past year the Colombian government has killed or captured three other top FARC leaders, including last month Luz Dari Conde Rubio, a.k.a. Doris Adriana, the woman responsible for the kidnapping of three Americans still held by the FARC.
But Raul Reyes was especially important to the FARC. As head of the FARC’s International Front, he was in charge of developing foreign contacts and links with other organizations sympathetic to the FARC, and was the FARC’s contact with Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, Chavez’s liaison in securing the release of six FARC hostages.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa had first said that Uribe had informed him of the Reyes raid but later said he had been misled. One can speculate that Hugo probably called him reminding him of their joint projects and asked for a show of indignation.
Of course Chavez is livid that his FARC buddies (he insists that the world refer to them as “insurgents”, not “terrorists”) are under attack. His usual position on the FARC is that Colombia’s long guerrilla war has no military solution.
On Sunday, he ordered troops, jets and tanks to the Colombian border. Notice his choice of words:
“The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America,” an agitated Chavez said, mentioning another country that he has criticized for its military strikes. “We aren’t going to permit Colombia to become the Israel of these lands.”
Thor Halvorssen, director of the Human Rights Foundation, has noted Chavez’s hostility to Venezuela’s Jews. It comes as no surprise that Chavez considers this Israel/Colombia analogy a slur.
Hugo was all bluster during his weekly TV show, ‘Alo Presidente, calling Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a “criminal” and praising dead terrorist Reyes as a “good revolutionary”, while trying to sound tough:
Mr Chavez addressed his defence minister, asking him to “move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately”
While still on the air, he also told his defense minister to send tanks and jets. The Venezuelan Embassy in Caracas is now closed.
The Venezuelan public know that Chavez sympathizes with the FARC, and the public is also increasingly aware of the FARC’s brutality. Chavez would find little, if any, support if he were to contrive an international incident over the killing of a FARC official.
Additionally, last week in Venezuela two incidents of interest took place: a group of Chavez supporters (some wearing Che t-shirts) took over the Archibishop’s palace asserting the benefits of socialism, and a man died while planting a bomb at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
The man was carrying papers identifying him as a police inspector belonging to “social intelligence networks” created by the Chavez government. Blogger Miguel Octavio explains that
he was part of the police until October 2007 and was part of the “Socialist Volunteers”. He was supposedly working for a Deputy elected under the backing of the “Tupamaro” group, a radical and armed group allowed by the Government to roam Caracas with weapons.
Both incidents point to Chavistas acting beyond Chavez’s control and becoming an embarrassment to Chavez. The public derided both incidents, many people discussing in public the ridiculousness of the takeover of the Archbishop’s palace, and the idiocy of the loose-cannon bomber. Venezuelans are increasingly worried that hard-core Chavistas may be acting on their own and out of control.
Of course Venezuela’s not going to go to war with Colombia over a brief Colombian raid on Ecuadorian soil. Hugo’s saving his saber-rattling for the real thing:
Mr Chavez had earlier warned Bogota that any incursion into Venezuelan territory similar to Saturday’s operation would be a “cause for war”.
Venezuela’s military perhaps would follow Chavez’s orders if such an incident were to occur; however, let’s not forget that it was former defense minister Raul Baduel who made the last election results stand.
Whether the military would go along Chavez’s plan and create a Falklands Islands-like diversion from Venezuela’s increasingly dire internal situation is anyone’s guess. But surely it would take more than Chavez’s rants to bring about an international incident.
Fausta Wertz is a resident of Princeton Township and blogs at Fausta’s blog.
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10 Comments
robert verdi:Its bluster, anyway Hugo has been planning for an invasion from the ocean for years, His military doctrine has focused on a people’s war against the USA. That is a far cry from a coneventional war. I am sure there are still professionals in the military, but I do not think we will se them in action.
Mar 3, 2008 - 3:30 am Dark Helmet:chavez is another hitler who enjoys great support from the far left wing cult of President Bush haters which includes despising anything that made this nation great.
Recognize that this is in fact treason, not just beyond belief sheer stupidity backed by soros.
Don’t buy citgo.
Mar 3, 2008 - 4:40 am WR Jonas:You give a dictator a few million pesos( what is their currency), a couple dozen Russian fighters and pretty soon he thinks hes in command of Alexanders army.
The chances of Chavez invading anybody are equivalent to my chances of winning the big lotto.
If he had any guts he would attack instead of talking about it. But of course George Bush actually has the guts and that must really grate on Hugo.
Mar 3, 2008 - 2:14 pm John More:Chavez is in trouble at home.
Nothing like international trouble to divert attention and give excuses to round up the troublemakers.
Mar 3, 2008 - 5:18 pm Patrick Joseph Madden:The Venezuelan Embassy in Caracas is now closed.Why was a Venezuelan Embassy in Caracas ever opened?
Mar 3, 2008 - 6:26 pm Elena:I heard from a venezuelian that Chavez declared mourning and a minute of silence for the killed terrorist Reyes.
Mar 4, 2008 - 7:40 am gcblues:in answer to the above, Venezuelan currency is the bolivar. VEB on currency indexes i believe.
anyone that believes communism is on the verge of collapse in Latin America is a fool
mt father always told me, it is always best to place the blame on yourself, then you and only hold the solution.
the USA is to blame for the situation they have caused in Latin America beginning with the king idiot JFK and his post missile crisis invitation of communism into this hemisphere, just please oh please do not aim nukes at us, everything else is ok. followed by the same stupidity we use in the mid east by supporting every thug that opposes, or supposedly opposes others we do do not like. gosh, when the smoke clears is there any question why everyone left alive hates the USA? duh.
add that to agricultural subsidies that cement poverty in UDCs, the world bank and the USA’s anti Latin attitude while they expect gringos should be able to waltz into any Latin country just by flashing a passport …. and darn it, can’t you learn English? the myopic ethnocentric stupidity exemplified by the border morons has left a very dangerous Latin America. just wait till Iran begins building its new port at monkey point Nicaragua.
Mar 4, 2008 - 12:12 pm Dark Helmet:the USA has bungled Latin America over and over and over and over. we deserve what we get.
Let’s not lose our perspective here in the blame America for everything movement.
A murdering bastard has a choke hold on a great country. chavez has clear ambitions to harm America.
I don’t see how we deserve any of that. Small countries composed mainly of people who used to hack each other into bits to appease myan & aztec gods are lucky to live in the back yard of the greatest nation of earth.
Our ‘mistakes’ are not an excuse for maniacs or American hating left wingers that kiss his feet.
We will cut the head of that snake in SA and the one in Iran. Watch.
Mar 4, 2008 - 6:43 pm Michael Lonie:gcblues,
Latin America is reponsible for its own mess. A century ago Argentina had what would then be considered a First-world economy. They threw it away with Peronismo and never have recovered. Mostly they don’t even try, returning to Peronismo repeatedly. No American interventions, no American influence, Argentina was already anti-American out of puffed-up pride and vanity, their own choices wrecked their economy.
Latin America lacks property rights and the rule of law, which are the main supports of actual economic development. The one state that seemed to understand what they need was Chile after Allende was overthrown, and it did excellently for a while, but even Chile seems to be going reactionary now. Socialism is so popular because its sounds so good to uni students and peons, but all they get in the end is further impoverishment and tyranny. Nothing the US does has anything to do with inflicting this mental block on them, it’s all home-grown stupidity. It’s that that keeps them down, nothing the US does.
Maybe the Venezuelans should think harder next time about the advisability of electing as President a twit who has already tried to overthrow their Constitution and spent time in jail for it, and who spouts the reactionary rubbish Hugo did. Here again the Venezuelans brought their troubles on themselves, now possibly including Chavez starting a Galtieri-style war.
Mar 4, 2008 - 10:30 pm