Could Chavez Be Bi-Polar…
After ordering thousands of troops to the border of Colombia and threatening them with retaliation with his Russian weaponry, if they dared enter Venezuelan space, Chavez is singing a different tune. Or is he?
The tensions were triggered by a scuffle that broke out between the leaders of the terrorist group FARC, and the Colombian government which led the Colombian government to enter Ecuadorian territory without permission and ended in the death of the FARC leader Raul Reyes and sixteen other guerrillas.
Ecuador and Venezuelan presidents both cried foul and intervention by the US, calling Colombia a puppet of the U.S., sent troops to the border with Colombia, called back their ambassadors and Ecuador went as far as kicking out the Colombian ambassador. Chavez also threatened to slash trade and nationalize Colombian owned businesses. Another member of the Summit, and an ally of both Ecuador and Venezuela, Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega broke off relations with Colombia due to the incident. Castro also put his two cents in calling it a “Genocidal plans of the Yankee Empire”.
In the Dominican Republic today, the XX Rio Group, consisting of a 20 member group of Latin American and Caribbean States, held their yearly Group Summit, which was supposed to be mainly focused on energy this year, but had to refocus their attentions to the current crisis in the region. The Dominican Republic President opened the Summit with a call for Unity. The presidents of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador and Nicaragua among others were all present.
Upon arrival in the Dominican Republic, Uribe the president of Colombia, refused to speak to the press about the matter, but during the Summit, he acknowledged the incident, apologized for intruding into Ecuadorian territory but defended his actions, saying the attack was directed at terrorists and that Correa’s government had not been cooperating with Colombia in going after terrorist which crossed over into Ecuador. Colombia has long been complaining that the governments of both Ecuador and Venezuela are harboring members of the FARC terrorists group who are taking refuge just inside their borders.
Correa criticized the Colombian aggression, demanded an apology and a firm commitment that it won’t happen again. Chavez, denies supplying the terrorists and harboring them and took the opportunity to take shots at Colombia and the United States even going as far as saying that the U.S. participated in the raid but offered no proof, then almost in the same breath called for a “cooling off of nerves, and expects the Summit to be a positive one, because it will spur debate on the issue”. In other interviews he invites the international community to take an in depth look into the internal problems of Colombia and calls for an effort to collaborate in a solution of peace.
Is it me or do I sense a bi-polar inclination here.
On related news: Viktor Bout, a former Russian Military officer and arms dealer suspected of supplying guns and ammunition to many brutal conflicts throughout the world including Colombia’s Marxist terrorist group FARC, African rebels, Afghanistan, Taliban Militia, al-Qaeda networks, and Liberian warlords, has been arrested in Thailand.
Sources: Yahoo News: Chavez calls for cooling of tensions
Sources:Now Public: Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela crisis: XX Rio Group Summit (updated I).
Chavez colombia correa ecuador Nicaragua Noriega Uribe venezuela
on March 12th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I really like Chavez’s photo….it really concurs with the title of the post