Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Colombian incursion into Ecuador kills Colombian Rebel leader, and Venezuela prepares for war???

Hugo Chavez is a gamer, people. Always ready to get involved. Let's spin this one out:

Colombian military attacks a FARC camp across its own border inside Ecuador. Kills a top FARC guy, maybe its #2 guy, Raul Reyes.

Chavez then starts putting troops on its border with Colombia and mobilizing his armed forces:

Chavez called the killing of Reyes and the other rebels an attack by a "terrorist state," saying Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is a "criminal."

"Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately — tank battalions. Deploy the air force," Chavez said during his Sunday radio and television program.

Meanwhile, the Colombians are playing it cool:

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Monday that his government isn't moving any troops and "we have the situation under control."

"We prefer to leave President Chavez out of this discussion," Santos told Caracol radio. "We don't mention that person, we don't make any comments on what he says, does or suggests."


And the Americans don't see what the fuss is about:

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said the United States supports Colombia's right to defend itself against the FARC and called for dialogue between Colombia and Ecuador.

"From our perspective this is an issue between Colombia and Ecuador," he said. "I'm not sure what this has to do with Venezuela."

Maybe Chavez is mad because he knew about the information on the laptop computers the Colombians allegedly found in the FARC camp. They've released info claiming among other things that the FARC had financially supported Chavez in the past and Chavez was financially supporting the FARC in the present.

Leaving aside the issue of the cross-border incursion into Ecuador, "getting" Reyes is a huge coup for Colombia. The FARC really seems to be hurting, and the further revelations of ties to Chavez, if they pan out, won't be helping them any either inside or outside of Colombia.

I wonder if Chavez is trying to get out in front of the damaging information he knew to be forthcoming, or if he just can't stand anyone making headlines in South American besides him?


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