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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Chavez: Conflict with the US is inevitable |
| 2008-03-06 |
| Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that "we want peace," but that Colombia and its allies in Washington represent war - and that conflict with the United States is inevitable. "It must be said: They, the empire and its lackeys, are war," Chavez said in a televised speech, his first since Colombia alleged that documents seized from a leftist rebel's computer prove the Venezuelan leader has been supporting the guerrillas for years. "We are the path to peace," said Chavez, who ordered 10 battalions of troops to reinforce the border after Colombia entered Ecuadorean territory to attack a leftist rebel hideout. Chavez spoke as diplomats from many countries struggled to defuse the crisis sparked by the Colombian attack. Ecuador rejected a Colombian apology for the cross-border strike as insufficient before an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States, where the United States was the only country to offer Colombia unqualified support. Many other countries worried openly about the violation to Ecuador's sovereignty, despite complaints that Venezuela and Ecuador have long provided refuge to leftist Colombian guerrillas. Chavez has warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that Venezuela would respond militarily to any violation of its border, and Venezuela's justice minister ramped up the threat Tuesday by declaring that war "has already begun." He said Wednesday that Colombia's "warlike government" follows US dictates and conflict of some sort with the US cannot be avoided: "While we want freedom, they want to keep us in chains. ... We want a fatherland; they want a colony. How can a confrontation be avoided? It's inevitable." "Venezuela will never again be a US colony," Chavez said to applause. Venezuela's agriculture minister, Elias Jaua, said Venezuela had closed the border - which sees annual trade worth roughly US$5 billion (€3.3 billion) - to imports and exports. Leonardo Mendez, a spokesman for a Colombian cargo transport association, said some 300 vehicles, including trucks carrying food, shoes, ceramics and other products, were stuck at one major border crossing. Despite the shrill rhetoric from the Andean governments, in several border towns there was little sign of tension apart from the turning away of trucks by Venezuelan border guards. Contenting themselves by calling Chavez "crazy", Colombian truckers lounged in the shade drinking beer and saying they hope the crisis won't persist long. When the border is open, each day some 8,500 metric tons of merchandise cross between Colombia and Venezuela in both directions, said Jaime Sorzano, head of the cargo transport association. "In the past, we've had episodes, problems, but like this crisis no. It's unprecedented," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #16 See also REDDIT > NICARAGUA CUTS TIES WITH COLOMBIA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-03-06 23:45 |
| #15 "We are the path to peace," said Chavez, who ordered 10 battalions of troops to reinforce the border Guess his irony meter's in the shop... |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-03-06 20:20 |
| #14 "we want peace," A little piece of Columbia, a little piece of Brazil, a little piece of Guyana . . . Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-03-06 17:38 |
| #13 AMY GOODMAN: That is, well, the now slain FARC commander, Raul Reyes. I wanted to ask you, Mario, a high-placed official in the Colombian Defense Ministry said, on condition of anonymity, it was the US intelligence agency that first told Bogota several weeks ago that Reyes was sporadically using a satellite phone whose signal could be pinpointed. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-03-06 14:17 |
| #12 Far Left: Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! - With US Assistance, Colombian Troops Attack and Kill 20 FARC Rebels Inside Ecuador Interview with a publisher friend of FARC perp killed. list: Mario Murillo, longtime journalist and author of Colombia and the United States: War, Terrorism and Destablization. He is co-host of Wake-Up Call on the Pacifica Radio station WBAI in New York. He joins me from the Hofstra University studio in Long Island, where he teaches media and communications. Helga Serrano, Ecuadorian activist with the international network for the abolition of foreign military bases, No Bases, speaking from Quito, Ecuador. Arlene Tickner, Professor of International Affairs at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, where she joins us on the phone. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-03-06 14:13 |
| #11 He really, really hates being ignored doesn't he. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-03-06 12:40 |
| #10 Ecuador rejected a Colombian apology for the cross-border strike I must have missed Ecuador's apology for providing safe haven to FARC's nuclear weapons program. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-03-06 11:36 |
| #9 waiting for the Hate America Kids and Commies swing right into action denouncing America for attacking poor brave Hugo. |
| Posted by: RD 2008-03-06 11:18 |
| #8 There were more violent deaths last year in Venezuela than in Iraq. If 20% of them were politically motivated killings made to look like random violence Chavez has beaten the body counts of Castro and that perrenial bogeyman-of-the-left Pinochet combined. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-03-06 09:41 |
| #7 But both these groups are still in Venezuela, and both are still have some influence that Chavez cannot control. Yet. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-03-06 09:34 |
| #6 Chavez really wants a butt kicking, doesn't he? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-03-06 09:29 |
| #5 Castro had the advantage of wiping out or expelling both the upper classes and the educated from Cuba. But both these groups are still in Venezuela, and both are still have some influence that Chavez cannot control. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-06 08:53 |
| #4 I love that Colombia strikes a terrorist camp inside Ecuador, Venezuela jumps in, and no one bothers to say "WTF". Um, folks, it's perfectly acceptable for a nation to strike against terrorist camps in another nation if the other nation doesn't try to control them. Venezuela jumping in argues that the Venezuelan government has more interest in the terrorists than in sovereignty. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-03-06 08:45 |
| #3 UN or OAS, They have their place, I guess. But when in doubt, Send the Marines! — Tom Lehrer |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2008-03-06 07:42 |
| #2 Fidel flogged that horse for over 40 years, then retired. You got a ways to go Hugo. |
| Posted by: Spot 2008-03-06 07:08 |
| #1 conflict with the United States is inevitable Fortunately for Chavez, regime change in the US is less than a year away. Of course, he already knew that when he uttered these brave words. Personally I hope W hands the flyswatter to McCain when the day comes. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-03-06 01:55 |