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  • Chavez sends tanks to Colombia border in dispute

    BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Venezuela 'sends tanks to border'

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia, marking a sharp escalation in regional tensions.

    Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez also said Venezuela's embassy in Colombia would close.

    Mr Chavez said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was a "criminal".

    He said the killing of Raul Reyes, a top commander of the left-wing Farc rebels, just inside Ecuador on Saturday was a "cowardly murder".

    Mr Chavez has been mediating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - or Farc - to secure the release of hostages the rebels hold, and six have so far been freed under this initiative.

    But he lamented the killing of Reyes - whom he called a "good revolutionary" - and at least 16 other Farc rebels when he spoke on his show, "Alo, President".

    'Invasion'

    After Saturday's operation 1.8km (one mile) into Ecuadorean territory, Colombia's defence minister described the death of Reyes as the "biggest blow so far" to Farc.

    But Mr Chavez described the strike as "a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated".

    He said Colombia "invaded Ecuador, flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty".

    Mr Chavez addressed his defence minister, asking him to "move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately" - a deployment likely to involve several thousand soldiers.

    He ordered the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota closed and said all embassy personnel would be withdrawn.

    Mr Chavez had earlier warned Bogota that any incursion into Venezuelan territory similar to Saturday's operation would be a "cause for war".

    US critic

    Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has complained to the Colombian government about its incursion, calling it "scandalous", and a formal protest has now been lodged with Bogota.

    While Mr Chavez is a vociferous critic of the US, Colombia's government has received billions of dollars in aid from Washington to fight the guerrillas - the US, along with the EU, views Farc as a terrorist organisation.

    Colombian troops have recently retaken control of areas previously held by rebel groups, but Farc retains a strong hold over Colombia's more remote regions.

    ------------------------------------------------------------
    (I couldnt find another post on this, if there is sorry)
    Are things hotting up down there?
    And chance of this expanding into something bigger? (US involvement?)

  • #2
    Columbia violated Ecuador's sovereignty by conducting operations in its territory without formal consent of the Ecuadorean government. At the least, the UN should pass a resolution rebuking them.

    Comment


    • #3
      Chavez sends tanks to Colombia border in dispute

      Chavez sends tanks to Colombia border in dispute
      Chavez sends tanks to Colombia border in dispute - Yahoo! News
      By Saul Hudson Sun Mar 2, 4:56 PM ET

      CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez moved tanks to the Colombian border and mobilized fighter jets on Sunday, warning Bogota could spark a war after its troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador.
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Reacting to Colombia's killing on Saturday of a Colombian rebel over the border in Ecuador, a Venezuelan ally, Chavez also withdrew all of his diplomats from Bogota in the worst dispute between the neighbors since he came to office in 1999.

      "Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions. The air force should mobilize," Chavez said, adding he will bolster his military's presence along the 1,400-mile (2,200-km) border.

      "May God spare us a war. But we are not going to allow them violate our sovereign territory," the ex-paratrooper added on his weekly TV show.

      Colombia's military said on Saturday troops killed Raul Reyes, a leader of Marxist FARC rebels, during an attack on a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. The operation included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the frontier.

      The anti-U.S. Chavez, who had warned a similar operation in Venezuela would be "cause for war," threatened to send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops struck inside his OPEC country.

      Colombia had no immediate reaction to Venezuela's military movements. Prior to Chavez's statement, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe denied violating Ecuador's sovereignty, saying the operation was in response to fire from across the border.

      But the leftist governments of Venezuela and Ecuador questioned the accuracy of his account. Ecuador withdrew its ambassador in protest.

      "Colombia has not violated any sovereignty, only acted in accordance with the principal of legitimate defense," the government said in a statement.

      Washington, which backs Uribe's fight against the rebels with its largest military aid outside the Middle East, said it was monitoring developments after Chavez's "odd reaction."

      France called for restraint on all sides, saying it underlined the need for the negotiated release of FARC hostages, including the most high-profile captive, French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

      The FARC said in a statement the killing of one its leaders who had been involved in hostage talks should not affect moves to free captives, according to the Venezuelan government.

      CIVIL WAR SPILLOVER

      Uribe, who is popular at home for his tough stance against the rebels, has often jousted with neighbors over spillover from the four-decade conflict. But he has managed differences with pragmatism and disputes have rarely moved past rhetoric.

      Uribe says rebels take refuge in frontier areas and neighbors urge him to stop violence seeping over borders.

      Chavez has been in a diplomatic dispute with Uribe for months over his mediation to free the rebels' hostages. Uribe says Chavez used the talks to meddle in Colombian affairs.

      The Venezuelan called the rebel leader's death the "cowardly assassination" of a "good revolutionary."

      "I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador in any situation," he said.

      Uribe is "a liar, a Mafia boss, a paramilitary who leads a narco-government and leads a government that is a lackey of the United States," Chavez added.

      Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank in Washington and a critic of Chavez, said the Venezuelan was playing with fire even if the spat could distract from his domestic problems such as chronic shortages of some foods.

      "It maybe is a measure of how concerned he is about his own domestic support," he said. "I don't know how far he is going to go with this, but it is a risky political action."

      (Additional reporting by Patricia Rondon in Caracas, Patrick Markey in Bogota, Jean-Baptiste Vey in Paris and David Alexander in Crawford; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

      Related
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

      Comment


      • #4
        This was an inevitable crisis.

        As Venezuela provided political recognition for the FARC and a Venezuelan aligned Ecuador was the subject of a Colombian military operation, it was in Chavez' interest to provoke a crisis.

        What the media has failed to ask regarding this crisis is whether his announcement means that Venezuela is indeed providing safe heaven to FARC rebels, willingly or unwillingly after Chavez has repeatedly declared against the facts that there is no FARC presence in Venezuelan territory.

        Ecuador's reaction- at first mutued proccedural diplomatic acts, now increasingly vocal in criticism after Venezuela's escalation, will be determined by the extent Venezuela is willing to push the issue.

        as Venezuela's domestic political cohesion becomes fractionalized, the more the Chavez administration will seek to create international crises to facilitate that cohesion.

        Comment


        • #5
          Equilibrium Reply

          Thanks for the thoughtful response.

          Equilibrium, you provide this question-

          "...is whether his announcement means that Venezuela is indeed providing safe heaven to FARC rebels..."

          yet you say this-

          "Chavez has repeatedly declared against the facts that there is no FARC presence in Venezuelan territory."

          Could you clarify this?

          You postulate that Chavez is using Ecuador as a bully pulpit and diversion from increasing Venezuelan social fracture. It seems possible. How can, however, Chavez materially assist the Ecuadorians and why would they even need it?

          By itself, naturally, this issue would die a quiet death in a matter of days-if not hours. Count on Hugo.;)
          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
          "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

          Comment


          • #6
            Mods Merge?

            Varsity has a similar and earlier thread in current affairs. Should these merge?
            "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
            "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by S-2 View Post
              Thanks for the thoughtful response.

              Equilibrium, you provide this question-

              "...is whether his announcement means that Venezuela is indeed providing safe heaven to FARC rebels..."

              yet you say this-

              "Chavez has repeatedly declared against the facts that there is no FARC presence in Venezuelan territory."

              Could you clarify this?

              You postulate that Chavez is using Ecuador as a bully pulpit and diversion from increasing Venezuelan social fracture. It seems possible. How can, however, Chavez materially assist the Ecuadorians and why would they even need it?

              By itself, naturally, this issue would die a quiet death in a matter of days-if not hours. Count on Hugo.;)
              There have been many Venezuelans living in the border regions with Colombia
              that have been taken hostage by the FARC, some have been released by the FARC after ransom payments, while many others have not. FARC insurgents have also stolen large amounts of property and blackmailed many buisnesses in those areas.

              Venezuelans have complained to the federal government about the FARC presence, but the Federal government has refused to do anything about it as Chavez has claimed that there is no FARC presence in these areas, only right wing paramilitaries that mount temporary forays into Venezuelan soil.

              This is one reason why I think the Venezuelan government has reacted so dramatically to the events of this past weekend. Ecuador has long know about FARC safe heavens in its territory, but it has refused to do anything about them for fear of being dragged into an "internal Colombian matter". Colombia's action demonstrated the obvious open secret, that the Venezuelan and Ecuadorean governments are either unwilling or unable to close their borders to the FARC.

              But what the Colombian action demonstrated was that the government was now willing to use its military power to take on the FARC outside its national borders.


              Chavez has had a preccedent of using populist demagoguery to suit his agenda. He used claims of an impending US invasion to claim greater governmental power, create a civillian paramilitary organization to counter the military, control officer appointments down to the mid level cadre and purchase various weapons systems. It has also enabled him to extend Venezuelan influence into Bolivia by supporting a government opposed to US policies and to finance it with Venezuelan funding. He also occasionally threatens to cut off oil supplies to the US, but that is mere bluster- he would have foar more to lose than the US.

              Chavez would not cross the Rubicon so to speak by precipitating a military clash in an alliance with Ecuador. Ecuador has no interest in escalating what it originally intended to be an inconsequential crisis. If the crisis does escalate, Ecuador would be forced to choose sides between Colombia and the FARC and Colombia/ Venezuela. It is not in its interests to do either and be dragged into the Colombian civil war or a regional conflict.

              Comment


              • #8
                I'm sick of this guy!!!!!!! He's all talk...........!!

                For the past 6 months, it's been, "ANTI-AMERICAN THIS", and, "ANTI AMERICAN THAT!!"

                Lets see this guy put his money where is mouth is at!!!

                Chavez, talks so much crap about the U.S., but most of his countries products derive from the U.S.!!!

                I'm a avid fisherman...........and have been to Venezuela several times for Grouper, Sail Fish, Snapper, and Marlin..........

                Every time I'm there.............I see nothing, but American products!

                Black market! some of you say??..........Yeah right!.............I've been there enough!!!

                They love the Euro.......and U.S. dollar!

                Chavez knows' what his county needs and wants!!

                Thanks!!

                Comment


                • #9
                  It's a good way to divert attention away from his failed socialist policies.
                  "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by gunnut View Post
                    It's a good way to divert attention away from his failed socialist policies.
                    Plus he has to test out all his new toys from Russia.
                    F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: The Honda Accord of fighters.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by BenRoethig View Post
                      Plus he has to test out all his new toys from Russia.
                      Will he?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        If he does the US will take the opportunity to arm up Columbia and give him a good pasting.
                        I Dont think he is going to risk that.
                        For Gallifrey! For Victory! For the end of time itself!!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Killing that idiot, will only make him a matyr....

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            yes but humiliating him with a military disaster or two would be a good move.
                            For Gallifrey! For Victory! For the end of time itself!!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by bolo121 View Post
                              If he does the US will take the opportunity to arm up Columbia and give him a good pasting.
                              I Dont think he is going to risk that.
                              I can't think of much worse allies to possibly have than the Colombians.

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