The FARC Farce: Starring Hugo Chavez, Directed by Oliver Stone
Chavez's "hostage rescue" underway in Colombia is sure to give Stone great footage of the Venezuelan leader's finest method acting, writes Bridget Johnson. But it's the behind-the-scenes cooperation between Chavez and the Colombian leftist guerillas that is truly worth watching.
Autocrat, totalitarian, Bolivarian reactionary. Now Hugo Chavez aims to add another descriptor to his storied list of accomplishments:
Hugo Chavez, action hero commando!
(Chuck Norris Unapproved!)
Clad in fatigues and a red beret, Chavez sent two helicopters to Villavicencio, Colombia, to fetch three hostages of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. To make the weekend’s mission truly a leftist epic, Oliver Stone and his cameras went along for the ride. “There are some good Americans,” Stone told Chavez, purportedly referring to himself. “That’s why I’m here.”
After all, an action hero has to have a hot director — in addition to Chavez’s notorious supporting cast of Hollywood sheeple from Danny Glover to Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey.
“They are playing a political game, the FARC and Chavez,” Daniel Linsker of Control Risks, a London-based risk consulting firm, told Bloomberg on Saturday as Chavez’s copters hadn’t yet been given coordinates by the FARC as to where to land. “Any hostage releases in the past have not involved Chavez; they simply release them near the Red Cross and that’s that. This is going to get milked for all it can.”
Understatement of the year. Chavez dubbed the mission “Operation Emmanuel,” after a 3-year-old boy born in captivity (the daddy reportedly being one of the guerrillas) to Clara Rojas, a vice-presidential candidate captured jeeping in FARC territory in 2002.
The key with Chavez is to always read between the lines. He doesn’t give poor Americans discounted heating oil out of the goodness of his heart; he does it to curry favor with left-wing Americans and to make Bush look bad. He doesn’t hold elections on his constitutional “reforms” to embrace democracy; he does it to draw out opposition figures and organizations to keep in mind for later crackdowns.
He doesn’t constantly drop Jesus’ name to bring people closer to God; he does it because he fears Catholic Church influence and considers himself the reigning deity. He doesn’t open dozens of brand-new newspapers to educate the populace about local and world events; he does it to supplant the independent publications that are being squeezed to death, even forced to stop printing as he keeps them from getting newsprint.
Chavez hailed his hostage-rescue mission as “a first step to open a door toward the path for Colombia to have peace soon.” Baloney. It’s actually a first step to reasserting his influence after his grand election failure while simultaneously trying to make U.S. ally and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe look useless. According to Bloomberg, the Chavez government accredited more than 300 reporters beyond those normally in Venezuela for the event. After all, the revolutionary action hero needs Clark Kent to spread the word.
But Chavez’s key ulterior motive likely rests with extending a hand to the leftist guerrillas who could serve his cause for continental domination.
Rewind to 2000, when FARC leader Olga Marin, for example, spoke at Venezuela’s National Assembly and thanked the Venezuelan government for its “support.” A June 2000 video leaked by unhappy members of the Venezuelan military showed FARC and Venezuelan officers meeting and cooperating.
In 2004, FARC commander Ricardo Granda was captured by mercenaries living openly in Caracas and taken back to Colombia. As Chavez cried that the capture was a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty, the FARC said Granda was in Caracas for a conference “at the invitation of Bolivarian organizations based in Venezuela, with the approval of (Venezuelan) government authorities.”
“If the U.S. war hawks used Colombia as a platform to invade the friendly Venezuelan people, the FARC would voice their strongest rejection and offer their unconditional support to the Bolivarian process,” said Raul Reyes, spokesman for the terror group, in a February 2006 interview.
And conservative Uribe is a holdout in both Chavez’s and FARC’s Marxist revolutions. Chavez would shed no tears if something would happen to Uribe or his government.
“That’s why I say it before the world, as long as President Uribe is president of Colombia, I won’t have any kind of relation with him, or with the government of Colombia. I cannot do it,” Chavez said at the end of November, cutting ties with Colombia after Uribe told him to butt his showboating nose out of the hostage mediations. In return, Uribe accused Chavez of orchestrating an “expansionist project” in Latin America.
Chavez’s hostage-rescue farce may give Stone’s cameras some dramatic footage of the Venezuelan leader’s finest method acting, but it’s what happens behind the scenes that should concern us.
“Our government has the respect not just of the FARC but of the ELN (another Marxist Colombian rebel group) and of many other factions in the world,” Chavez boasted Friday from an airbase runway.
And in return for that love — and shared ideology — the FARC is likely getting a lot more than just respect from Chavez.
Bridget Johnson is a columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
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9 Comments
1. Rubicon:Now wouldn’t it be quite a surprise to Chavez if the Colombian Air Force intercepted those “rescue” helicopters & turned them back. Or, knowing Chavez was on-board one of them, happened to accidentally open fire because they thought their nation was under attack &/or the helicopters had fired on them?!?!
Methinks there are some folk who would even pay an under the table reward for such an accident! And Ollie Stone could show the film to the world & howl about covert operations too!!
Dec 31, 2007 - 4:42 am 2. Fred Beloit:“”There are some good Americans,” Stone told Chavez, purportedly referring to himself. “That’s why I’m here.”
Dec 31, 2007 - 7:22 am 3. Curly Smith:Good thing Ollie added that last bit; there is no way his name would have come up in connection with a list of good Americans otherwise.
“There are some good Americans,” Stone told Chavez, purportedly referring to himself. “That’s why I’m here.”
So the “good Americans” were tied-up somewhere else?
I fear that I don’t understand the “hostage rescue” angle. If, as the article says,
“Any hostage releases in the past have not involved Chavez; they simply release them near the Red Cross and that’s that. This is going to get milked for all it can.”,
then this is simply “released hostage transportation”, there is no rescue involved. Oh wait, now I understand, it’s as much of a rescue as Oliver Stone is a good American. If Stone made pictures worth watching then he wouldn’t have to resort to stunts like these to get noticed. Wouldn’t it be simpler if he just went on strike?
Dec 31, 2007 - 7:28 am 4. recalcitrant:Bridget, your article states, “He doesn’t give poor Americans discounted heating oil out of the goodness of his heart; he does it to curry favor with left-wing Americans and to make Bush look bad.”
Dec 31, 2007 - 8:10 am 5. patagonianplato:If there is one certainty for the Bush administration, its that Bush does not need Hugo Chavez to make him look bad.
Besides, no matter how you attempt to spin Chavez’s intent, you are pointing out nothing less than this country has been doing for decades. Political s.o.p.
try again.
Dear Mrs. Johnson,
Do you know how two Venezuelan helicopters were not only able to violate Columbian airspace with impunity but also to land on Columbian territory? After President Uribe caught President Chavaz engaging in direct negotiations with Columbian military officials, he told Chavez to butt-out.
Dec 31, 2007 - 9:01 am 6. Fernanda:Both Chavez and FARC leadership are members of the Foro de Sao Paulo, a organization that coordinates the far left in Latin America. It was founded by Lula and Fidel Castro in the 90’s to promote the growth of the left-wing that we actually watch in many of it’s countries.
Dec 31, 2007 - 10:14 am 7. PajamasMediaSucks:Bridget Johnson is nothing but another ignorant right-wing apparatchik looking to spin in all manner of wacky and false directions what she doesn’t understand, so that YOU don’t understand it either.
If you want the real story, read:
http://www.borev.net/
He’s been following this thing. YOU have not, so stop pontificating.
Dec 31, 2007 - 12:29 pm 8. Dark Helmet:It’s simple really…. no more stone movies, kick him in the crotchbox office & everyone STOP BUYING CITGO!
Put your dollars where your mouth is.
Dec 31, 2007 - 4:10 pm 9. vladbox:I am from Colombia and I am truly surprised by the ignorance of the positive effect American aid has had on Colombia. For the past two decades and in part a result of US aid, Colombia has effectively combated two U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (the FARC and the ELN – two groups that kidnap and murder civilians and attack the country’s infrastructure) and also dismantled a third – the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Since Uribe won the Colombian presidency, terrorist attacks in Colombia decreased by 63% and kidnappings by 78%. For the first time in recent history, the Colombian government has a presence in all of its municipalities. Rather than rail against progress in Colombia, we should support it.
Oiver Stone’s assertion in other interviews about Hugo Chavez being a man of law and a good leader are not only ignorant, but also absurd. Chavez has curtailed freedom of speech and eliminated the judiciary’s independence in Venuzuela. While Colombia has a strong economy growing at 6% and unemployment in the single digits, Venuzuela now has the hemisphere’s highest inflation rate and due to Chavez’s imposed price controls, the country has food shortages on even the most basic foods such as milk, meat, and sugar. Caracas, Venezulas’s capital, is now filled with crime – even garbage goes uncollected! If Chavez is the type of leader Oliver Stone wants, then maybe he should leave his cozy little mansion in th US and move to caracas.
Jan 6, 2008 - 12:38 pm