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Headlines : "War on Terror"Colombia: Chavez funding FARC rebels
And this shocker: Colombia says some documents suggest the rebels have bought and sold uranium. Not only will they utilize the war on drugs, but now also the war on terror. And in a tit-for-tat move Venezuela aired footage of Uribe’s AUC and narco-trafficking connections. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States supports Colombia’s “legitimate” governments right to defend itself against the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The rebels, who have been fighting for more than four decades for a more equitable distribution of wealth in Colombia, fund themselves largely through the cocaine trade, while holding hundreds of kidnapped hostages for ransom and political ends. The drug trafficking and kidnappings haven’t helped their reputation, which is why both Correa and Chavez have denied supporting them.
[Posted By Dilated_Rebel]Republished from Yahoo! News
Venezuela and Ecuador sought Monday to make Colombia pay a high price for killing a leftist rebel leader in the Ecuadorean jungle — expelling its diplomats, ordering troops to the border and cracking down on trade across the border.
But Colombia quickly struck back, revealing what it said were incriminating documents seized from the rebel camp that suggest its neighbors have been secretly supporting the leftist rebels’ deadly insurgency.
And in a tit-for-tat move, Venezuela later displayed the laptop of a slain drug trafficker, which it said contained information implicating Colombia’s national police chief in the cocaine trade.
Posted by Dilated_Rebel
Born and raised very humbly in a “small town” in southern California, I was a product of different worlds. Literally, part of my family descends from Mexico the rest from Portugal and Uruguay. This mixture had kept me from supporting any racist psyche found...
A WMD take two farce?
My spanish teacher is pretty upset about this, she’s from Colombia. From everything she’s said it sure is starting to seem to me like chavez is definitely bad news. I remember when he was first making news i thought maybe he could be a good thing, but i don’t think so anymore.
How does what Colombia and Uribe did, make Chavez look bad?
There’s a game afoot. Chavez is losing. The strategy is to legitimize Uribe/Bush type terrorism (AUC, narco-terrorists etc..) and to do so by honing in on a waning terrorist threat from FARC, which is an outdated and unpopular movement by all accounts. Associating Chavez with supporting FARC is a slam-dunk, but Chavez has only been supporting FARC by negotiating, and seeking the release of FARC-held terrorists.
Last year a huge scandal emerged which associated Uribe and his cohorts with death squads and drug lords in the 1980s and 90s. Info released by the National Security Archive has recently pinpointed US support for the rivals of Andreas Escobar, with help from Colombia’s then president Cesar Gaviria (now an “opposition” leader who is cheering Uribe’s strike on Ecuador).
At the same time, the Polo Democratico gained in support, promising an end to death squads, negotiations with FARC, opposition to U.S. pushed free trade agreements, Latin American integration, social programs etc… In February, PD tried to stage a mass demonstration against all forms of terrorism, successfully splitting a Uribe sponsored demo against only FARC.
So we can see what the aim of all this is. It’s really about holding back cooperation between Latin American countries and about stifling political change in Colombia.
he doesnt look so bad, does he?
Chavez has only been supporting FARC by negotiating, and seeking the release of FARC-held terrorists
I largely agree w/ your analysis. But you really believe that?
That we have hard evidence of, yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if Venezuelans were supporting FARC, but I doubt Chavez is personally involved.
Why would you doubt it?
He’s got better things to worry about than supporting a failed Maoist insurgency in a neighboring country, he knows that he is being spied upon and that any direct backing of FARC would be known about by the U.S. and it’s too much of a risk. Sure, give verbal encouragement and offer negotiations (with French assistance mind), but I doubt that Chavez is willing to directly support FARC. He’s not stupid.
The $300 million given by Chavez and the recovered documents sound too convenient to be true. How likely is that?
The irony of Uribe taking Chavez to court after launching an illegal attack on a sovereign nation is somewhat breathtaking.
And as for this…
Wading into an escalating South American border crisis, US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he “fully supports” Colombia and condemned “provocative maneuvers” by Venezuela.
In his first public comments on a dispute that also involves neighboring Ecuador, Bush said that he had told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe by telephone “that America fully supports Colombia’s democracy and that we firmly oppose any acts of aggression that could destabilize the region.”
“He updated me on the situation in his country, including the continuing assault by narco-terrorists as well as the provocative maneuvers by the regime in Venezuela,” said the US president.
Chavez links with FARC date back to 1994 when he got out of jail, and came looking for political and monetary support for his political career in Venezuela. He traveled all around Latin America and he met the FARC delegates in El Salvador in 1996, among them, Raul Reyes. The FARC showed support for them and have expressed so in their website, and publicaly
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/colombia/castano-interview.htm
Szamko, just to respond to you asking me to cite who the people that the AUMs massacre in Colombia…for some reason it wouldn’t let me do it on that thread, but here is what Carlos Castano had to saY about it:
“Q: You have said that the civilians you kill are guerrilla collaborators. How do you define one of them and what parameters do you use to do so?
A: That is not the commander’s criteria. It is by statutory reasons that every commander takes that decision. Collaborators are defined in three categories: In group
one you have the collaborator for obligation, the one who gives food or shelter to the guerrillas. They were an objective the first three years of the conflict, because
we were entering the war and because if it hadn’t been that way we would not have survived. Then there is the collaborator out of convenience. We tell them to leave
the territory until someone is in complete control. If he does not leave, he becomes a military objective. And last is the subversive in civilian clothing. He is always an
objective.
Listen, to take over a town which has an average of 30 policemen, you need 150 guerrillas. They cannot be too close or move together, so they do something called
an approximation, which is a slow movement, calculated and silent, throughout three or four days. They pack their weapons in wooden boxes and three or four move
them on a mule, as if it were bananas or potatoes. The rest of the guerrilla dress in normal peasant clothing, and an hour before they attack, they put on their military
fatigues, and take over the town. An hour later they are once again peasants.
This is not a conflict like those in the Cold War, rich against poor. Here we have a guerrilla with helicopters, Toyota 4 Runners, satellite telephones, dollars
everywhere, cocaine, technology, air weaponry, and boats. Some expected the gringos or French to come and save us, but we realized they were not going to do
anything about it.”
Howzit make him look bad?
FARC are terrorists
He supports therefore he is a terrorist
Simple
Of course, FARC would have been fine if they had put their cash in
If you guys speak spanish there are some good videos about Chavez’s lies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH-l7B5IuWI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltt4oddfDuc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-LMWfmWClE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOGy8vmW8uU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rg7jCHOyqU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH2OrytjoUc&feature=related
That last one is about all the people that had been dead for several years that mysteriously came back to life just to vote for Chavez….
Here’s an interesting piece in hindsight, courtesy of ISN Security Watch. Among other things, the analyst confidently states that there’s little chance that Chavez would secure the release of any hostages and that Uribe is no fool.
I think there’s a good chance that the OAS will investigate Uribe’s allegations and find their way into the pants of the narco-state’s genocidal practices.
Reuters Pictures — 3 hours ago: Protesters look at a map of Colombia during a march at Bolivar Square in Bogota March 6, 2008. Thousands of Colombians headed for the streets on Thursday to protest against paramilitary right wing violence.
Getty Images — 13 hours ago: A Colombian woman residing in Caracas, holds a poster with the face of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during a demonstration against Colombia’s paramilitary groups in Caracas on March 6, 2008. Venezuela and its leftist allies Ecuador and Nicaragua closed ranks against Colombia on Thursday despite US-led calls for a diplomatic solution to prevent a crisis from spiralling into armed conflict. After Saturday’s attack, Ecuador and Venezuela reinforced their borders with Colombia while Chavez warned Bogota against repeating a similar strike against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in his country.
Reuters Pictures — 5 hours ago: A masked demonstrator holds a banner with a image of Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe during a march against paramilitary violence in Bogota March 6, 2008. Thousands of Colombians headed for the streets on Thursday to protest against paramilitary right wing violence. The banner reads “Terrorist, Paramilitary, I am”.
Uribe says, military incursions into Ecuador or Venezuela possible: Uribe refused to rule out more military incursions into Ecuador or Venezuela, saying he first needs assurances from Correa and his Venezuelan ally, leftist President Hugo Chavez, that they are not harboring rebels.
U.S. Skeptical of Colombian ‘Dirty Bomb’ Claims: Skeptical U.S. law enforcement officials are seeking access to computers and documents that authorities in Colombia say show the leftist group FARC sought ‘‘50 kilograms of uranium’‘ for a possible dirty bomb.
Chavez calls for cooling of tensions: Speaking with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa at his side, Ortega said Colombia was guilty of ‘‘political terrorism.’‘
LatAm leaders approve move to end crisis: A Latin American summit on calming a border crisis erupted into an angry showdown Friday, with finger-jabbing lectures and passionate speeches before a plea for goodwill prompted stiff handshakes between the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.