Columbian guerillas raid Venezuela

While Hugo Chavez does his level best to get the world community of nations to remove FARC from their respective lists of terrorist organizations (Link to Venezuela News and Views), Columbian guerillas are kidnapping Venezuelans (Miami Herald link);

Witnesses and authorities interviewed by El Nuevo Herald say such groups recently have been widening their operational range beyond the Venezuelan-Colombian border zone and now penetrate deeper into Venezuelan territory.

”The problem of kidnappings has stopped being a border crime to become a national crime” said Manuel Cipriano Heredia, vice president of the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers in Venezuela, which keeps a registry of kidnappings of members and other ranchers.

Of course Hugo denies that there are terrorists operating within his own borders;

The guerrillas may even control some forest sections of Venezuela. ”We have numerous testimonies about groups of irregulars in military outfit in [Yaracuy] zones,” Quiroga said.

”The Colombian guerrillas act freely in the country,” said César Pérez Vivas, leader of the opposition party COPEI. As a member of the national legislature, he has investigated numerous abductions by Colombian groups along the border.

In spite of the constant complaints from farmers, President Hugo Chávez has persistently denied that Colombian rebels operate in Venezuela.

Wonder why? I don’t;

”They work in a very organized way. Many of those abducted are surprised to see their kidnappers have a detailed inventory of their properties,” said Fhandor Quiroga, rancher and director of the federation in Yaracuy.

How else would the guerrillas have an inventory of ranchers’ property unless they got it from the government? I suspect that Chavez uses Columbian kidnappers to drive ranchers from their homes so he can more easily seize their farms in the style of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Chavez has threatened to seize private property through legal channels, but this way is probably just easier.

Daniel writes today that Chavez has accused Columbia of plotting to assainate him;

Today he went as far as accusing Colombia to plot his assassination without offering any proof (a well rehearsed line against the US even though we are still to see the first real concrete evidence of that). The Colombian government was prompt in issuing a very strong communique where basically they warn Chavez to butt off Colombian internal affairs, to show some respect as they show to him. In fact Colombia came dangerously close to qualify Chavez of terrorist himself by accepting all the terrorist practices of the FARC that he refuses to acknowledge.

Daniel goes on describe how reckless Chavez is becoming in regards to Columbia – and since many of Venezuela’s staples come from Columbia, Chavez is coming dangerously close to a trade war he can’t win.

But what better way to buy some peasant loyalty than with some recently confiscated land?

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez